


Eight Days (to Save the World)

by gnarf



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Abuse of Auror Authority, Abuse of Authority, Arrests, Auror Harry Potter, Auror Ron Weasley, Battle, Blood and Injury, Breaking and Entering, Case Fic, Conspiracy, Corrupt System, Corruption, Dementor's Kiss, Dementors, Digital Art, Drinking, Drinking to Cope, Duelling, Friends to Lovers, Friendship, H/D Erised 2020, Harry Potter Epilogue What Epilogue | EWE, House Elves, Housemates, Inferi (Harry Potter), Interrogation, Law Enforcement Corruption, Lies, Love Confessions, M/M, Manipulation, Memory Charm | Obliviate (Harry Potter), Mentions of Death, Ministry of Magic (Harry Potter), Ministry of Magic Corruption, Minor Character Death, Minor Hermione Granger/Ron Weasley, Minor Seamus Finnigan/Dean Thomas, Murder, Number Twelve Grimmauld Place, Oblivious Harry Potter, Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter), Patronus Charm (Harry Potter), Post-Hogwarts, Potions, Scars, Spells & Enchantments, Unforgivable Curses (Harry Potter), Unspeakable Draco Malfoy, Veritaserum, complot, patient draco malfoy, safe houses, slytherin friendships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-08
Updated: 2020-12-08
Packaged: 2021-03-09 00:41:40
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 8
Words: 47,632
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27385864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gnarf/pseuds/gnarf
Summary: Darkness returns to the Wizarding World. People disappear without a trace, and all they leave behind are rumours.When the Aurors are tasked with arresting innocent witches and wizards, Harry once again takes it upon himself to fight against the evil infiltrating the Ministry.But this time he isn't alone.And one of his friends is especially determined not to let him die a second time.
Relationships: Draco Malfoy/Harry Potter
Comments: 30
Kudos: 184
Collections: H/D Erised 2020





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Note: To see who the minor character death is, please jump to the end notes.
> 
> Thank you, to my amazing betas and friends Emma and Em who helped me with this work. Without you the story wouldn't be as amazing as it is now. 😍😍😍 I love you 💕
> 
> A massive thanks also goes out to Pauleonotis for making me not one BUT TWO wonderful works of art for this story 😍 I love them so so much!
> 
> And thank you to the mods. Your fest pushed me to go the extra mile and helped me grow as a writer. You're the real stars here. Thank you!

Harry sat on the sofa reading the _Daily Prophet_ he had discarded earlier that morning when he heard the lock at the front door click before the door opened and shut again.

A smile crept onto his face as he heard the distant sigh of one very tired Draco Malfoy. 

"Food's in the kitchen, I have a glass for you here already," Harry called over his shoulder as he pointed his wand at the bottle of wine, spelling it to fill Draco's glass straight away.

The impatient rattling of cutlery from the kitchen made Harry snort. He could picture the git rummaging through the drawer and piling a huge load of food onto his plate as if he'd never eaten before. Harry had seen it so often already but the sight never failed to amuse him.

The door kicked open and Draco came in, his plate levitating in front of him. One look at the filled glass of wine already waiting for him brought a spark of life back into those tired eyes of his.

"Bad day at work?" Harry asked, putting down the _Prophet_ to look over at Draco.

"Don't even ask," Draco said between bites. "If I had known how much you destroyed in the Department of Mysteries when you broke in I wouldn't have put in to become an Unspeakable."

"Yeah, you've mentioned that once or twice already. A few times. What happened?"

"Trainee got lost in the Prophecy Hall while trying to sort out your mess."

"Well, look at it this way. At least you don't have to take care of the prophecies anymore. That's something."

"Yes, but now it's me who has to go and find said lost and traumatised trainees. I don't know if that's much better," Draco sighed.

"I had a strange day too. We had an order come in to arrest a few people who were involved with Death Eaters and bring them in for questioning."

"What? It's been five years, why would they—?"

"No idea. I wasn't involved in the interrogations and have no idea what they want. Tried to snoop around but I found nothing."

"That's bizarre. But fine by me. As long as they leave me alone I couldn't care less."

Humming, Harry leaned back into the sofa and yawned. Tiredness had crept up on him. One day to go and then he'd have the entire weekend off. Two glorious peaceful days where he could do nothing but relax.

"I'm going to bed. Don't bang your door shut again when you go to bed later or, Merlin as my witness, I'll come over and strangle you," Harry yawned once again as he got up. 

"That'll be unnecessary. I'll finish eating, and thanks for cooking by the way, and then I'm off to bed myself. You probably won't even be done with wanking when I fall asleep."

Suppressing the need to throw a pillow at Draco, Harry rolled his eyes and walked out of the room. 

Asking Draco to share a flat during their training wasn't something Harry thought he'd ever regret. Not even now that they'd finished it and still lived together. But occasionally Draco made it very hard for Harry to not doubt the life decisions he had made in the past that brought them both to this point.

The next morning Harry hadn't even arrived properly in the office when Ron stormed at him and dragged him off towards the largest meeting room.

Robards was already waiting for them and Harry immediately sensed trouble. He could tell by the way his eyes jumped from one Auror to the next—as if he was making a mental list of some sort—and Harry knew this would be bad.

"Thanks for coming here right away everyone. We have a mission of the utmost urgency, an order from very high up the ranks," Robards said, shuffling urgently through a few documents on the table in front of him until he found the parchment he was looking for. "You'll team up with your partner, every team gets a list with names on them. I want you to find those people and bring them here, all of them. No exception! If everything works out you won't need to use any force, but as always, you need to be prepared. I can't promise that for all of them."

"Excuse me, sir, may I ask who those people on the list are?" Harry asked furrowing his brows. "What's the purpose of this mission?"

He had been here for five years but something like this had never happened before. The events of this morning had been highly unusual. 

Sure, there's been a critical raid here and there, or a mission too big for only one team. But Harry today counted 12 teams, all crammed into the room waiting silently for orders. He could feel the tension pressing against his skin. 

"Well Auror Potter, there has to be a good reason but that's one that not even I'm aware of yet. Those names are all people who were in some way involved with Death Eaters, or suspected to be involved with them. Yesterday's questioning obviously didn't bring the expected results so now it's up to us to bring in the rest of them."

Harry wasn't satisfied with that answer. "But if not even you know what's going on, who's doing the questioning then?"

"Trained personnel from Azkaban. Is that all?" 

Robards' tone and the angry set of his features made it clear that this was to be the end of Harry's questions. The wizard swallowed his concerns and gave his boss a short nod.

"Good. I expect you lot to get onto this right now. You have one week to find them all and bring them here. Potter, a word in my office as soon as we're done."

Already feeling annoyed beyond repair, Harry gestured to Ron to get their order while he turned on his heels and stalked down the corridor towards Robards' office to wait for him.

A private meeting with Robards never meant anything good, Harry wasn't sure what to do. His long experience told him that. If Harry was about to get a warning for simply questioning some rather ridiculous orders he'd be so livid that he'd be lost for words. 

It wasn't as if working for the Aurors was that much fun. Harry had lost some of his fight during the last few years, and truthfully nowadays it was less about saving the world and more having a paid job. But that didn't mean he'd just sit there and do his job until he could leave.

Heavy footsteps from behind announced Robards' arrival, and they thankfully dragged Harry out of his chain of thought. Following Robards into his office, Harry closed the door behind them. He waited for the order to sit, which followed suit.

"I knew that if anyone questioned this it'd be you, Potter."

"I'm sorry, sir. It's just rather—"

"Worrisome? I thought the same, but an order is an order, Auror Potter." Robards looked at him with a stern, fearsome expression until Harry huffed and leaned back into his chair.

"Of course, sir."

"Good." Some of the annoyance left Robards' expression. "That's not the reason I asked you to come here though. Do you still live with Draco Malfoy?"

Harry's blood froze at this question. If they were going to bring in all those people and if Robards was asking specifically for Draco, that couldn't mean anything good for the wizard. "Yes, sir. We still live together. He's working for the Ministry as I'm sure you know."

"I'm aware. Now tell me the truth, Auror Potter. Do you trust him?"

"I'd trust Draco Malfoy with my life," Harry replied, without a quiver of hesitation in his voice. "If I see his name on one of those lists then I'll quit the second I see it."

"That won't be necessary." Robards smiled as he stood up. The interview was over. "That's all, Auror Potter. You can leave and get to work now."

Something about Robards' smile made Harry feel uneasy, but he couldn't do anything about it immediately. All he could do was leave and join Ron in their tiny crammed office that reminded Harry strongly of how Mr Weasley's looked when the two of them were growing up. At least they had a window even though it always seemed to rain when Harry decided to look outside.

"What happened?" Ron asked the second Harry had closed the door behind him.

"He asked me if I trust Malfoy. There's something off here, I know it. Robards knows more than he's telling us."

"We're obviously investigating some kind of big Death Eater ring, mate," Ron replied. "It's only logical that he'd ask you about him. His family were mixed up with Dark wizardry for generations."

Putting his glasses onto his desk, Harry pinched his nose. "You're probably right. But still—"

"Tell Draco about it when you get home tonight," Ron said, cutting Harry off. "For now we have a list of people we have to deal with first, and Draco isn't on it."

"We'll never get out of here on time, right?" Harry sighed.

"Doesn't look like it, no. Take a look at the list and tell me what you think."

This was not how Harry had hoped his Friday would pan out. Putting his glasses back on, Harry looked down at the list Ron had handed him and let out a groan.

He knew none of those people. Not a single name sounded even slightly familiar. Wishing not for the first time that the wizarding world had something like Google, or any kind of easy data research, Harry handed the parchment back to Ron. "We have to go to the archive and ask Mathilde for old case files and whatever else she can give us about them. Any details could help us, mate. I don't know any of those names."

"I know two, they had a shop at Knockturn Alley. Dad led raids at their shops and homes years ago."

"Well, at least we have two of them somewhere in old case files then. It's a start."

" _Mathilde_ will be very pleased to see you again," Ron teased. "It's been a while since you were down there. I bet she misses you."

Harry shuddered as he remembered all the hours he'd spent sorting through files with her. He remembered the dust and the clutter of the place. Whenever Harry had done something that wasn't up to the high departmental standards they had set upon him, they had sent him down there to help her.

Mathilde was a nice old witch, but she had taken to Harry rather strongly, and her attitude reminded him rather too much of Mrs Figg. She also smelt like too many cats and too much flowery parfum. And she had no sense of privacy when speaking with people. The only privacy that was holy to her were her tons and tons of files and documents. Nobody could even take as much as a glimpse at them if they didn't have a very good reason to.

"She'll be flooded with work by the others already," Harry sighed. 

"Probably. But we have no other choice than joining the queue if we want to get to work anytime soon."

"You know what?" Harry replied, standing up, "I'll go and take care of this. But I'll stop at the Department of Mysteries first, I need to tell Draco what happened. Something about this smells fishy and I want to give him some fair warning. And then I'll slip Mathilde our list and hope she'll have my back."

Shaking his head, Ron copied the names onto an empty sheet of parchment and handed it to Harry before he sent him off.

Harry had no idea if this was a good plan. The Unspeakables weren't exactly fond of him, but he knew that he needed to see Draco. Time was of the essence. 

Once in the lift, Harry waited to see if someone would follow him onto it. But thankfully he was the only one needing a ride. Pulling a memo and a pen out of his pocket, Harry hurriedly jotted a message to Draco, telling him to join him at the door leading to his department, and he sent it off. He wouldn't make the same mistake again and stumble into the labyrinthine department without knowing where to go.

It took him ten horrible long minutes to get there, and another five before Draco finally decided to show. His grumpy face instantly switched to worry as soon as he spotted Harry.

"Did something happen?" 

Harry looked around the empty hallway and lowered his voice to a hushed whisper, "Is there somewhere we can go where nobody will listen?"

Furrowing his brows, Draco looked around as well. "Follow me, and be bloody quiet."

Nodding, Harry followed Draco into the Department of Mysteries and through a dozen doors and twisting, maze-like rooms until they found themselves in a dimly lit room that made Harry feel immediately uneasy.

"The words said in here will never be overheard. People who try to listen into our conversation will suffer greatly, so we're safe here. What happened?"

"I don't have much time. We've been sent to get even more people who were linked to Death Eaters. Told to bring them in by any means necessary."

"I already told you—"

"Draco, Robards called me into his office and asked about you. Asked me if I trust you."

"What?" Draco asked quietly, his face looking even paler than it had before. There was a look of betrayal in his grey eyes. 

"Yes. I'm not sure if I'm even allowed to tell you."

"Bloody hell Potter!" Draco shook his head, looking aghast at Harry's words. "Then why are you here? I don't want to be responsible for you losing your job!"

"Because I want you to be extra careful today. And if something feels off I want you to go home and ward the entire apartment until I finish work. Whatever this is, it's not normal protocol."

"Are you sure?" Draco narrowed his eyes. "You know how you get sometimes. This isn't the leftover remnants of the war talking or something?"

"I'm not paranoid, Draco! There's something going on and they're refusing to tell us! Just…be careful, yes?"

"Okay. Yes. If something's off I'll leave." Draco bit his lip and looked around. "Thanks for warning me. We need to invite the others tonight, let them know what's happening."

"Yes. Tell them to be there for drinks, I'll do my best to leave in time. Can you show me the way out?"

"Of course. If someone sees you wandering around here they'll lock you in the Hall of Prophecies for the rest of your life," Draco chortled.

"Not interested, thanks. There are more important things than a few lousy prophecies, I've had enough of them to last me a lifetime."

"Me too, thanks to you and your gang."

This time it was Harry's turn to laugh before he quietly followed Draco back to through the department and out into the Ministry.

"See you tonight," Harry whispered before he turned and fled across the hallway and down towards the archive.

"Harry! I've been waiting for you!" came the delighted cry of the archival witch. "How lovely to see you again, my dear boy. All your other Aurors have already been down here already. I thought you might have done something stupid again, and they weren't allowing you to join this madness."

"Hi Mathilde! I thought I'd give you some time to please the masses before I come here to trouble you, too. How are you? And the cats? Did Tibbles ever stop coughing?"

"Dodging my question about doing something stupid, I see." Mathilde laughed her rich laugh and shook her grey locks which made her heavy earrings swing around. "I'm wise to your tricks. Tibbles still has his cough, he's taking veterinary potions once a day now and feeling a lot better. And I'm doing just fine, you know me. Nothing can shake me up. So where's your list? I can get to it right away."

"Are you already done with the others?" Harry asked, feeling astonished as he handed her the parchment.

"No. But they didn't ever help me down here. You spent half of your training here and even stayed to have lunch with me, so I'll gladly help you get your files first before I take care of the others."

"You're an angel, Mathilde. Want me to help you look for them?"

"Absolutely not. You have no business in my files as long as they didn't send you to help me," Mathilde snapped.

Knowing that tone Harry held up his hands and grinned at her. "Just an offer, I'll wait here."

"That you will. I'll be right back."

Sitting down at one of the chairs in front of her little window, Harry closed his eyes and tried to clear his mind. Panic and anxiety weren't ever friends in a situation like this. He knew that he couldn't expect to make any progress on his work while being distracted by worrying.

Taking deep breaths and focusing to push away every intrusive thought, Harry concentrated on the sounds all around him. The rustling of paper, someone walking past the Archive, another set of steps, a cough from Mathilde. All those little things that filled his surroundings seeped into his consciousness. 

Harry finally felt some of the tension leave his body. And when Mathilde finally returned to her desk, Harry felt a lot better. Now wasn't the time to worry. Now was the time to do what he'd been trained to do: take action. 

"I got you the first five files I could find and will send the rest to your office by the start of next week. That way, they can't make you work on the weekend." Mathilde winked and Harry sent her a grin.

"I appreciate that. I'm already so ready for the weekend and the day only started."

"Same for me, Harry. This week was"—she hesitated for a second—"something. To say the least. Is there anything else that I can do for you?"

Harry already wanted to thank her for everything, reassuring her that there wasn't anything else when an idea shot through his mind. "Actually, and I know this is kind of a grey area, but technically I'm not asking you for any information, so—"

"Dear Salazar, spit it out already, " the witch laughed, amused. "I don't have as much lifetime left as you."

"Fine. Would you tell me if someone requests information about Draco Malfoy? Anything at all? I just want to make sure—"

"—make sure they're not after your friend too. I understand. I'll see what I can do for you."

Smiling gratefully, Harry took the files from her and left to dive up the spiral staircase back to Ron.

The pair of them worked solidly through till lunch, splitting up the files and going through them with a fine-tooth comb, trying to figure out precisely who the people were they had to take in. 

Two were registered shop owners at Knockturn Alley, one was an old man living in a hut in the forest who was everything but happy to have visitors, and the others had nothing registered on them so far. Not even underage magic or anything minor like that. It didn't make any kind of sense to Harry. But if Robards wanted them brought here to the Ministry, then they'd have to be brought in.

"Hermione won't be here for lunch today. She's at her parents place this weekend, left this morning," Ron said absent-mindedly as he looked at the sandwich he had brought along with him. "I should have put more mayonnaise on this I think." 

"You'll die young if you eat that stuff in such vast amounts," Harry snorted. Ron's love for mayonnaise really was a bit revolting. He'd begun to eat it spread on everything once he had discovered it in their fridge. "I think Draco invited the Slytherins over. You can come too if you want to."

"Sorry, promised George I'd help him at the shop first thing in the morning," Ron replied, examining the crust of bread that he still held in his hand. "I know how nights with the Slytherins usually end so I'll do the wise thing and stay at home."

"Blaise promised to never ask for strip poker again"—Harry grinned—"so we're safe."

"You're never safe with them around." Ron shook his head. "Snakes, the whole lot of them. They're always plotting how to embarrass us."

"No they're not," Harry laughed, flicking a crumb of his bread at Ron's head.

"Yes they are," came a voice from the door. Both wizards turned their heads to find a grinning Greg Goyle standing there, looking back at them. Greg was another surprising addition to their circle of friends, once Harry had taken in Draco. Nobody knew Slytherins only came in packs.

"Potter, Weasley, I just wanted to check if there's anything I could bring tonight? Beer? Wine? Draco didn't know."

"Uhm," Harry stuttered, "maybe snacks? Depending on how much you've planned to drink tonight."

"Draco sounded rather distressed so I guess a lot. I'll let the others know to bring snacks and stuff." Greg furrowed his brows, a shadow of anxiety crossing his face. "I think I know why. It's scary out there right now."

"We'll talk about this tonight, yes?" Harry asked, hoping that nobody was trying to listen into their conversation. This was the Ministry and the walls had ears. 

"Good idea. See you later then, Potter. Weasley, I'll tell Blaise that you're still scared of him."

"I'm bloody well not!" Ron replied hotly. "He didn't play fair, that's all!" 

Harry and Greg both laughed as Ron spluttered on how unfair the entire game had been, and that the Slytherins definitely played foul. 

He still didn't even stop when Greg had left and Harry reassured him once more that them cheating must have been the reason that Ron had lost that badly, knowing fully well that they had lost because none of them actually knew how to play poker.

"So, do you think we should get the recluse first? I figure he'll keep us busy for the rest of the day. And once we have him securely here we can go home," Ron announced after they finished their lunch break and were back hard at work examining their files.

"Yeah. Nothing better than a good duel on a Friday," Harry huffed, already dreading the cuts, bruises and strains that he'd later have to heal. "I'll go inform Robards, can you go and fetch a few Healing Potions just to be safe? The files clearly show that he's a clear 'attack first, talk later' kind of person."

"Sounds like a plan."

Getting up, Harry stretched before he slipped into his Auror robes and tied his boots just a bit tighter. Still closing all the buttons and clasps on his robes, he made his way over to Robards' office.

Knocking on the door, Harry waited for the tell-tale barked 'come in' before he entered the office. What he hadn't been expecting was to find himself face to face with not only Robards but with Kingsley as well. "Just here to inform you where Ron and I are going to, sir."

"You're working on the arrests too?" Kingsley asked, taking in the sight of Harry's full uniform. 

"Yes. Just made the decision to go in after the first contact on the list we were given. Recluse living in the forest, goes by the name of Jasbert, nobody knows what his real name is according to his case files," Harry said, glancing at Robards before looking back at Kingsley. "Sir, do you mind if I ask—"

"Yes, for once I do, Harry. This is, as we politicians say, a matter of national security. I can't give you any more details about it." Kingsley's deep voice was steady as he spoke, but as Harry looked closer he could see worried lines appear around his eyes. "Your role isn't to reason, Auror Potter. It's to get out into the field."

"I preferred the Auror over the politician," Harry said before looking back at Robards. "I'll call for backup if needed, this guy doesn't look like fun so please keep a team ready if it's needed."

"Nothing better than a duel on a Friday afternoon, Auror Potter. That way you'll do everything you can to not end up at St Mungo's. Looks like your weekend depends on your success. Backup will take five to ten minutes to arrive, so be careful! Good luck, stay alert," Robards said and sent him off with a nod. "Merlin be with you."

Shaking his head, Harry left Robards' office. He wasn't happy whatsoever. He was livid with how little he knew of the reasons behind all this. That Kingsley himself was worried didn't help much either. The whole situation felt corrupt. 

Finding Ron waiting in front of their office, Harry took the vials of Healing Potion from him and let them slide into the small pocket on his chest. He patted them, glad to have them close at hand. 

"Kingsley was in Robards' office, he looked worried but didn't tell me anything. Backup takes five to ten minutes, Robards keeps a team on call for us." Harry informed his partner as they gathered the rest of their kit.

"In Auror mode already, I see: plain information, no emotion," Ron giggled and Harry sent him a stern look.

"This won't be fun. Hermione will kill me if you get injured so please try and get out in one piece, yes?" Harry replied snappishly.

"Of course. Let's go, I can't wait to go home already."

Taking the lift to the Atrium, Harry and Ron went to the first empty Floo and called out an address that led them to a location just outside the New Forest National Park. Their target lived within the wood. The two wizards visited a nearby farmhouse where they borrowed a set of brooms to fly towards the heavily warded hut.

Landing far enough away to not be noticed immediately, Harry and Ron sent the brooms flying back to the farmhouse before they took a cautious look around.

It didn't look as if anyone ever walked through this part of the forest. Thin paths showed where animals usually crossed through the woods, while birds were chirping above their heads as if nobody could ever disturb them and Harry and Ron were the first humans they had ever seen.

"What do you think?" Ron whispered.

"Nothing off here," Harry said, casting his eyes all around him. "But we have to walk for at least fifteen minutes to get to where we want to be. We'll see what we're up against once we're there. Shields up now, you reckon?"

"I think that'd be wise. I'll cover you." 

Nodding at Ron, Harry pulled out his own wand and whispered " _Point me,_ " to make sure they were walking in the right direction.

Getting closer, they noticed that the birds around them had quieted, and their numbers had lessened. The air grew colder and stiller until everything around them was silent, and a shiver ran across Harry's spine. "I don't like this. Keep your shield up, _Appare Vestigium_."

A net of magical traces appeared around them, shimmering and shining in the afternoon sun. Harry realised with horror that they had long passed the line where no magic was present, which could only mean that Jasbert already knew they were coming. "Fuck."

"We haven't been attacked yet," Ron said quietly, casting his eyes in the direction of their target. "Maybe he isn't—"

A stirring in the air was the only warning they got before a storm of curses crashed into Ron's shield, bouncing off with a furious hiss.

"Can you hold this?" Harry gasped, a million different strategies running through his brain.

"Yes, but you better think of an exit."

" _Sonorus,_ " Harry said, pointing his wand at his throat. "Jasbert, Ministry of Magic. Aurors Potter and Weasley. Stop the curses or we'll have to make you! _Quietus_ "

A few seconds later the air around them wavered as the curses stopped, but then a new wave of magic rolled over their bodies, something that was holding them pinned tightly in place instead, making them unable to move. Growling, Harry cast a whispered _Finite_ that thankfully freed their feet even though they wisely didn't move. They'd been taught on their first day of DADA to lure your target into a false sense of security. Ron and he pretended that they were still stuck fast. 

"What do you want here? Can't you just leave me alone?"

The voice came from somewhere in front of them but Harry couldn't see where Jasbert was. He squinted his eyes, trying to get their perpetrator in sight. "Do you think he's disguised, or just really good at hiding?" 

"Maybe both."

Humming in agreement, Harry looked back at where the voice came from. "We've been sent to take you in for a questioning," Harry announced, his voice more confident than he really felt. "If you haven't done anything you'll be free to go before it gets dark. If you come with us now without any further attacks we'll let the first ones slide!"

"I've done nothing wrong! I haven't left this forest in three years! There's no reason for you to come and get me! Sliding up to my house like spies! Don't you go believing I'm stupid! People are going missing, people nobody are looking for and I won't be the next one on that bloody list!"

"I can assure you that you won't go missing," Harry called out, glad that the wizard was talking. "They just want to question you about some things."

"You've been blinded by the Ministry, boy! Blinded by their lies! Use your brain! If you take me there I'll never be seen again!"

Next to him, Ron shook his head; only a small gesture, but big enough for Harry to know that talking wouldn't take them very far in this case. He was right. Jasbert was obviously paranoid and detached from reality. If living in a forest far away from everything wasn't a big enough hint, then his frenzied, angry words definitely were.

"What do you think?" Harry asked.

"We have to make him come out of hiding. That's the only way we can get him! We can't catch what we can't see."

"You're right," Harry said, holding his wand in white-knuckled fingers "Get ready. Stronger shield probably, do you need us to switch?"

"No I've got that, we both know your focus for holding a shield up for a longer time sucks."

It took Ron only the blink of an eye to pull up a new, tougher shield. Nodding at Harry he focused once again.

" _Revelio_ " Harry whispered, and seconds later a figure of a big bearded man appeared in the shadows of the trees. He didn't wait until Jasbert realised what was happening and instantly pointed his wand at him, screaming _Incarcerous_ at the top of his voice. He watched as ropes appeared out of thin air and tied themselves around the man who sunk to his knees, roaring in rage and righteous anger.

"You can't take me with you!" Jasbert cried out and seconds later a blinding light appeared that all but burned the ropes away. 

Jumping up again, Jasbert slashed his wand at Harry and shot a volley of different spells and curses at him which were thankfully all blocked by Ron's shield, in a furious salvo of lights and smoke. 

"I hate when they resist," Ron murmured next to him and Harry wholeheartedly agreed.

For a recluse, and a crazy one at that, Jasbert was a surprising good duelist. He didn't make his arrest easy, and by the time Harry had him at a point where his reactions were slow enough for Harry to land a hit, both Aurors were breathing heavily, their lungs in agony. Harry even had a cut on his cheek from when Ron's shield had given in for a second.

Harry finally got him with a Blasting Curse that threw Jasbert six feet backwards, deep into the forest. It left him unconscious.

"Remind me why we decided to take this chap first?" Harry asked, his chest rising and falling in his exhaustion. "Are you okay?"

"Cut on my arm, you look worse. Let's get him before he wakes up and disappears."

Agreeing, Harry started to walk towards Jasbert. He immobilised him while Ron cast another _Incarcerous_. With their suspect secured, Harry lifted him up with a spell, all the time checking he wouldn't have another burst of energy that made their spells ineffective. But Jasbert was still entirely knocked out. Pleased with the outcome, Harry grabbed Jasbert's shoulders and nodded at Ron. His partner was picking up Jasbert's wand before the three of them turned and Apparated back to the Ministry, Jasbert a dead weight wrapped in Harry's magic. 

Once they had arrived, Ron and he took Jasbert to the holding cells before taking the confiscated wand to the Artifacts, Articles of Magic and Stolen Items Room where they filled out the necessary parchment form to designate it as belonging to Jasbert. Harry handed it all over to the quiet guy working behind the desk.

"This was no fun." Ron sat down with a loud groan. "All very bloody strange. I wonder why he became a recluse. He's definitely way more skilled with a wand than is usual for a forest weirdo."

"That's for sure. Merlin knows what happened to him." Harry chewed on the end of his quill as he spoke. "Let's get the paperwork done so we can finally go home," Harry said, already scribbling a memo to let Robards know they'd returned. 

"Want me to heal that cut for you?"

"Nah, I'll take a shower later and then it'll be gone."

"You could just admit that you're keeping it so the Slytherins will be nice to you later, this office is a judgement free zone mate," Ron laughed, throwing an arm around his best mate's shoulder.

"You know a scratch won't stop them from being _them_ ," Harry said, his voice amused as he looked through his drawers for a stray blank report form. 

After all this, he was so ready for his weekend to start.


	2. Chapter 2

Harry had barely time to get dressed after his shower before Draco was calling to him from the kitchen where he most definitely cleaned the mess Harry had left behind after eating his dinner. 

Sighing, Harry inspected the cut on his cheek for a last time before he went to check what Draco needed. 

"The others will be here in a minute, just wanted to make sure you're presentable," Draco muttered, failing to look in Harry's direction. His house mate was too busy rummaging through a cupboard to look for glasses.

"I'm always presentable," Harry huffed. "And I think the glasses you're looking for are on the top shelf." 

Draco had a strange system of which glasses should be used for different occasions, one that Harry had long given up on trying to work out or talk him out of. Perhaps it was a pure-blood thing, or perhaps just a Draco Malfoy thing, but whatever it was, it was far easier to just run with it and deal with the tons of dishes to wash later.

"Thanks, I don't know why you can't just leave them where I can find them easily," Draco replied, Accio'ing the glassware he had wanted.

"Because then we'd have to put our everyday glasses up there, and as much as I like you, that won't happen," Harry replied, unable to keep the fondness out of his tone.

Snorting, Draco turned around, glasses in hand, just to nearly drop them on the floor. He was wide-eyed with shock. "Merlin, but what happened to your face?"

"It's a scratch, it'll heal just fine, stop making a fuss," Harry replied, his fingers automatically reaching to the cut on his cheek. It stung under his fingers. "Greg came over today and asked what he should bring. I told him to bring snacks, I hope that's okay," Harry said, trying valiantly to change the subject.

"Stop distracting from the fact that you look more and more like Moody did!" Draco tutted his annoyance. "Nobody thinks that's sexy, Potter! Here let me heal that for you."

Draco had put the glasses down and pointed his wand at Harry's face before Harry could do as much as open his mouth in protest. 

For most of his life, the sight of Draco's wand pointing in his direction would have sent him straight into battle mode, but now Harry wasn't even slightly concerned about it. Funny how things had changed.

"Hold still, dickhead. I want to fix this, not make it worse." Draco stepped closer and put his hand under Harry's chin as he inspected the cut more closely. "Raid?"

"No, a rabid Squirrel," Harry huffed. "Of course a raid. Suspect didn't like us arresting him."

Rolling his eyes, Draco put his wand to Harry's cheek and whispered the Healing spell before stroking over the freshly healed skin with his thumb. "It's still pink, but I don't think it'll scar. Salazar knows you have enough of those decorating your body already."

"Do we want to know why you know that Potter has scars all over his body, darling? Or would you rather we just drop the topic and pretend we never heard that?" spoke a melodic voice from the doorway behind Harry.

Spinning around, he found Pansy leaning in the open door.The witch was watching them with a raven-like grin that made him snort. 

"Nice you made it, are the others here too?" Harry asked while Draco returned to fussing with his glasses.

"Yes, they're waiting in the living room, couldn't bear your sappy behaviour."

"We're not sappy," Draco replied, quick as a hex. "Potter managed to get half his face split open on a raid and didn't think it necessary to heal it."

"It was a small cut," Harry said rolling his eyes at his friend's theatrics.

"Whatever. The only question I have is: Is this a wine night, or a whisky night? Draco didn't tell what this little emergency is about."

"Definitely whisky, maybe wine later, once the whisky is merely a memory," Draco said while ushering them out of the room.

"So it's a level ten catastrophe then, marvellous. We hadn't had one of those in quite some time," Pansy said, sarcasm dripping from every word. 

"I'd say probably a level fifteen at the least but we'll know once Potter manages to get a word in," Draco snorted.

Harry squeezed himself on the sofa between Pansy and Greg and waited eagerly for Draco to fill up their glasses and send them flying towards them.

"So?" Zabini asked. "What's so important that we had to come here tonight even though one of us, who shall remain nameless, might have had a date planned at Diagon Alley where they had reserved a table weeks before?" 

"Potter had some very concerning news today. News that'll affect all of us," Draco grumbled, gazing around at his fellow Slytherins.

"The Ministry started arresting people this week who were in any kind of way related to Death Eaters and their doings," Harry began, rolling his glass around in his hand. He hated being the bearer of bad news. "Robards even asked me if I trust Draco. It all began earlier this week. There were a few arrests, and a few people brought in for questioning." He paused, looking at the faces of all of his friends. "Today though? Nearly all qualified Aurors were called in and handed a list of suspects to arrest without an explanation. Ron's and my list included ten people, no idea how many the others had." 

Taking a sip of his drink, Harry pulled a grimace while he looked at Draco who watched his friends intently.

"So what does that mean?" Greg asked quietly. "We're all at risk? They'll just arrest anyone?"

"It looks like it, yes," Harry sighed. "At the moment it looks like that you're getting arrested for only speaking to anyone who ever even saw a Death Eater from a mile away. It's entirely random and they won't even tell us what's going on. I met Kingsley today and honestly? He looked worried."

"This means we're all in danger. I've heard the rumours, heard about people disappearing once the Ministry got their claws into them. But those were criminals, not random people! I thought maybe they were thrown into Azkaban for a while," Pansy said with a low, frightened voice. "What do you mean by random, Harry?"

"There were criminals on our list," Harry explained, "but also shop owners from Knockturn Alley who only had misdemeanors in their files. Ordinary people, living ordinary lives. There was absolutely no reason to arrest them as far as I could tell."

"That's—" Blaise started.

"— concerning. At best." Draco nodded. "That's why you had to drop your date."

"Pansy, you said you heard stories about people disappearing?" Harry asked, looking over at the dark-haired witch. She shrugged her shoulders. 

"Yes. The occasional rumour, or at least that's what I thought it was. There has been a lot of chatter lately."

"How long? Think back, Pans. Try and remember. When did you hear about this the first time?" Harry asked.

"About three weeks ago? Maybe four?" Pansy twisted her ring around her finger as she spoke. "I didn't pay attention at first! I don't know if it's been many people or just the same person whose story got shared over and over again." 

Humming, Harry took another sip of his drink. Whatever the truth of this was, he had no idea how he was supposed to find out. Harry felt disconcerted. Usually he could trust people coming up to him and asking for his opinion on whatever situation was going on. But this time Harry hadn't even heard as much as a whisper or a murmur. Which was even more concerning.

"Are you still with us, Harry?" Greg asked as he elbowed him in the ribs.

"What? Sorry, I was thinking."

At that Draco snorted and Harry frowned at him.

"Blaise asked if we'll be safe," Greg repeated, his voice quiet in a way that Harry didn't think he'd heard before. 

"Honestly, I wish I could say yes. But I'm not sure about that. Greg, your father died on the side of Voldemort. Blaise and Pansy's parents might have mingled with Death Eaters, I don't know. But what can't be denied: you're definitely all close friends with Draco. Being friends with me doesn't count in this situation. It won't make a single Sickle of difference. I'm not even sure how long Draco will be safe." Looking at Draco, Harry sent him what he hoped was a reassuring smile. "I'll hopefully get notified the second someone asks for your files."

"Mathilde?" Draco asked and Harry nodded. 

"Honestly, Potter. I always wonder how you're not a Slytherin. You sure know how to make friends in the right places," Zabini snorted, a wave of affection crossing his features. "But that probably won't help us. I'll send Mother to Narcissa, I'm sure she has an extra room in France. That should get her out of the Ministry's reach for a while."

"That's probably a good idea. I fear once they'll get to Draco they'll already have you," Harry said, the worry creeping into his tone.

"I'll send my owl to father,” said Pansy. "They're out of the country at the moment. Maybe it's best if they don't come back so soon because they absolutely did _mingle_ with Death Eaters. Lucius and Bellatrix were their greatest investors." Pansy sighed, her eyes finding Draco's. "But that's still no help to any of us. I wouldn't be surprised if our names were on one of those lists already. We have to think of what to do with this. We need a plan. It's a lot to take in."

"I have a bad feeling about this. It won't end well for any of us," Greg said with a shake of his head, before grabbing the whisky from the table and refilling his glass with a shaky hand. 

The room fell silent at his statement and Harry knew they were all thinking about exactly the same thing. What were they supposed to do with this? If Hermione had been there, she'd probably have run up a plan already, or five at a push. It wouldn't surprise him if she had a plan in reserve just in case something like this happened. 

"Maybe if I try and talk to Kingsley? We've always had a good rapport before. Maybe he'd tell me what's going on if we were alone?" Harry asked, sitting forward on the settee. "Could be worth a shot?"

"It looks like it's the only idea we have so far," Draco said grimly, his fingers unconsciously picking at a loose thread on his sleeve. 

The other Slytherins hummed in agreement.

"I vote we drink ourselves silly tonight and take care of the rest tomorrow. I know the Aurors don't work on Saturdays unless it's absolutely necessary. And seeing that Harry is here it probably isn't," Pansy said, lifting her glass in a wry toast.

"Well, if that isn't a plan I don't know what is," Blaise laughed as he got up to refill everyone's glasses with generous shots.

Thirty minutes later the atmosphere started to slowly change from deeply worried to tipsy chatter, when a bright idea suddenly shot through Harry's mind. It was simple, and brilliant, and he couldn't for the life of him think why it hadn't come to him before. 

"I know a temporary solution in case everything goes to shit!" Harry called out, jumping up and pacing across the room, excitement racing through him. "Grimmauld is still a safe house! We renewed all wards and spells after the war! Those who knew where it was forgot about it when we renewed the Fidelius Charm on it. That means that right now the only people who know where it is are the Weasleys, Hermione and me! There's no way the Ministry could find you there, not if it kept Voldemort out! If they come knocking at your door, then you just go there!"

"What's Grimmauld?" Greg asked, looking over the rim of his glass at Harry. There was still a lot that his new friends didn't know about his experiences during the war. 

"Old Black house, Sirius left it to me. It's huge, dark and not very welcoming. But it's safe."

"I'll take that over being dead or in Azkaban."

Grinning at Greg, Harry took a piece of paper and wrote the address down so everyone could read it before he burnt the piece of paper with a swipe of his wand. "Go there. If anything happens go there straight away. I'll know if someone crosses the ward and will come to you as soon as possible."

They were just about to pick up their drinking again when a Patronus flew through the window and came to a halt in front of Harry. All the blood left his face because he recognised the Jack Russell Terrier before it even spoke. 

_"Mate, you have to come to the Joke shop. Now. Use the Floo. Don't set foot on Diagon Alley."_

"That sounds bad," Draco stated.

"Yes."

"Guys, I'm going to go home and get my mother out of the country. I fear we'll see each other sooner than I'd like to," Blaise said, already getting up and Accio'ing his belongings.

"I'll go with Potter, you can come to my place when you get your mother out," Pansy said to Blaise and he nodded, looking thankfully at her.

Taking the Floo, they all went to Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes one after the other, all stumbling over each other since when they arrived the shop was entirely pitch black. 

"Ron?" Harry whispered into the darkness.

"Way to scare us, you prick! Wait, I have a Marauding Candle, I'll come and get you, you have to see this! Merlin, how many people did you bring?" Ron's voice was already inching closer, and Harry waited impatiently for him to arrive at the small back room.

"All of them except Blaise. What's happening?"

He felt a hand reach for his and nearly jumped into the middle of next week before Ron huffed out a laugh. "Sorry, we had to set some instant powder loose or else they'd see us lurking. Everyone hold on to another and I'll take you to the windows."

Reaching back, Harry held onto the first person he could find, and they followed Ron through the joke shop.

"Here, can you see outside?"

Harry looked up and squinted through the darkness when suddenly a spell zoomed past the window, then another one, lighting up the street outside the window with a shimmering, sparking trail. "What the—?"

George's voice appeared from somewhere next to him at that. There was an edge to it and Harry wondered briefly if he were remembering the night he'd lost Fred. "It started about fifteen minutes ago. They all streamed in from Knockturn Alley. Ron thought about calling the Aurors in, but your boss is one of the people out there, and we reckon the rest are some kind of Hitwizards."

"Fuck." Harry felt unable to drag his eyes away from the scene outside the window. There was a cacophony of noise, and everything was chaos. "Have you put some wards on the shop additional to your usual ones?" he demanded urgently. 

"I did right after this started. Ron joined in after his brain had caught up with what I was doing. Merlin's eyes, I have no idea how you're still in one piece, Harry." 

"Hey!" Ron whispered from next to him. "Who would expect a war zone in the middle of Diagon Alley at this time of night?"

Harry heard Draco snort at that before he yelped out; Ron obviously still held his candle and was able to repay the Slytherin for his haughty snort. Shaking his head, Harry tried to make out the figures outside, but the amount of whisky he had racing through his veins didn't help at all. "So what's happening out there?"

"They were obviously raiding the few bars down at Knockturn, maybe a few shops too. It looks like things escalated quite fast from there on in. We have at least eight people down already, no idea if they're just hurt or dead, I couldn't tell. Robards is fighting like a bloody maniac out there. I can't believe he's doing this with those strange people instead of his Auror teams."

"I bet that's because we'd ask too many questions," Harry spat out, confusion reigning in his brain. "Those guys out there look like they were hired. They remind me of Snatchers. Eight down you say?"

"Ten," Pansy's shaking voice came from somewhere in the darkness. "They just offed someone I know in passing. He took one of those brutes with him though."

"Merlin, Potter, this looks like war. Are we at war again?" Greg asked, an unmistakable frisson of fear filling the room.

"I don't know. But it sure does look like it." 

Something big crashed against the shield George and Ron had put up around the shop and they all looked towards the spot the noise had come from. There was a random wizard in a badly fitting Ministry uniform standing at the window trying to look inside. His face was twisted with fury and he radiated violent intent.

"Harry how drunk are you? Looks like it might get nasty in here soon," Ron said quietly, his voice switching from casual to official within a second.

"Not too drunk to duel. Do you think we should go out there and stop it? That's our job after all."

"No. This is something else," Ron replied, readying his stance to throw the first hex. "I think you were right earlier today. We'll see if there's something in the newspapers about this, or if Robards calls in a meeting Monday morning." He shook his head, seeming to come to some decision. "If none of that happens we better get our act together and everyone as far away from this as possible."

"You're probably right. I don't think the _Prophet_ will miss their chance to write a huge story about this though."

"Guys, you're creepy when you're in Auror mode. Could you possibly just shut up?" Pansy asked. "There are people who might be dying outside the door and you're chatting about the _Prophet_."

"Sorry," both Ron and Harry said before they fell silent again to watch the happenings outside.

The situation finally cleared ten minutes later. As far as Harry could tell, Robards' side, be that good or bad, had won the ground and taken everyone who wasn't fast enough away with them in a haze of Apparition leaving only a few people behind to spell clear the damage.

"Well, that was something," Ron grumbled from next to Harry.

"'Something' is rather fitting. What the actual _fuck_ was that?" Draco asked into the deafening silence of the shop.

"Let's go to the backroom again, I don't want to draw their attention onto us," George said, his voice wary while Ron took hold of his arm.

Letting Ron lead them back through the shop, the group waited until they heard the door being shut behind them before they all cast a _Lumos_ as one. 

Taking a quick look around, Harry could see just exactly how terrified his friends were. He noticed Greg's grey-tinged features and George's extremely white face. Pansy's entire body was shaking as she leaned against the wall. Draco looked the least perturbed, as if this chaotic scene hadn't taken much of a toll on him. 

It didn't fool Harry though. He knew Draco's little tells. He noticed the small crease on his friend's forehead and the way he held his shoulders. It reminded Harry of their sixth year at Hogwarts, and Harry was heartbroken to see that the emptiness of Draco's eyes back then had returned, and he had to shake his head to get rid of those terrible memories. Stepping next to Draco, he let his shoulder brush against his, trying to somehow let him know that he wasn't alone this time. 

"I don't think there's much we can do until we've seen the _Prophet_ tomorrow. Maybe we should try to sleep and figure this out tomorrow?" Ron said after he too had taken in the horrified faces surrounding him. "I'll owl Hermione before I go to bed, tell her everything. Maybe she'll know where to start with this."

"That's a good idea." Harry replied, nodding his agreement. "I told the others about Grimmauld, in case things get…worse. They can go there, that's the best plan I could come up with earlier."

"Brilliant! They'll be safe there," Ron said, giving everyone a thin smile. "We can't let them take our snakes now, can we? It was a lot of work to tame them." Ron snorted at his own joke.

"I beg your pardon, Weasley? _Tamed_ us? We've just figured out how to not distress your fragile little brains. That's a survival tactic and has nothing to do with us being _tamed_. We were simply sick of your whining," Draco said, while rolling his eyes. There wasn't any heat in his voice though. "Unbelievable. I'll meet you at home, Potter. I'm making sure those two get home safe."

At that they were gone, leaving only Ron, Harry and George behind.

"Will you be at the Burrow tomorrow?" Harry asked Ron and George.

"No." George shook his head. "I have to be here in case they decide to pull a stunt like this in broad daylight. Also school is about to start again, I have to keep the shop stocked."

"Same, mate. I'll stay with George, he'd need my help even if it was only a regular day."

"Okay, more food for me then. I don't mind that. Might bring Draco along, Molly has been asking for him to come for ages. I better be going now, I'm worried Draco will empty the rest of the whisky without me if I don't hurry up."

"Yeah go home to your snake, we'll cover from here," Ron said with a dirty grin that made Harry roll his eyes at him once more before he left.

As he stepped out of the Floo Harry did indeed find Draco already sitting on their sofa nursing another glass of whisky.

"Well, this was an evening that didn't exactly go as planned. What do you think is going on, Potter? The truth."

Filling his glass up too, Harry sat down next to Draco with a loud, frustrated sigh. "Honestly? I have no idea. We don't know anything yet. But tonight was highly alarming. I'm as much in the dark as you are. I don't know who those men were. I knew none of them except Robards. The part that really flummoxed me was that it happened so shortly after we got the assignment. There's something fundamentally wrong."

"What's the plan then?"

"First sleep. Tomorrow I'll visit the Burrow to talk to Arthur and Molly. You could come with me, they'd love to see you again. It's been a while since we darkened their doors. Also I thought about checking Grimmauld Place. I have no idea what state it's in at this point, and it looks like we'll need it."

Humming, Draco downed half of his drink before he leaned onto Harry's shoulder. "Tonight was…not nice to watch. It reminded me of the war. I have no idea how you can work as an Auror. All this fighting—the offensive spells, the intrigue—aren't you sick of it?"

"I am," Harry answered, wanting to be honest with Draco. "But I had hoped to make a change to our world. Doesn't look like I'm doing so at the moment. But this time we're not children. And we're united, not divided by some stupid rivary caused by different houses. It'll be different this time, Draco. I promise you that much."

"I hope you're right."

Leaning his head against Draco's, Harry took a deep breath. This time it needed to be different. They were friends now, weren't they? They were a team. Neither man had to carry the weight on their shoulders alone anymore. Harry yawned into the back of his hand, suddenly exhausted. "Let's go to bed. We need to be well rested tomorrow. There's a lot to do."

Humming in agreement, Draco got up and let out a yawn of his own. Getting ready for bed, they stood in silence in front of the bathroom sink to brush their teeth before they both went to their separate bedrooms, leaving their doors open for the first time in what felt like ages.

They had done that when they first moved in together, just to have that little reassurance that somebody was there with them, someone who'd be able to wake them from a nightmare or hear if there was something wrong.

It felt somehow nice to still have that companionship after all these years, but at the same time Harry hated that they had to go back to old habits. They had worked hard on recovering from the war they were dropped into, and that neither of them had chosen, and now it looked like everything was about to come back and destroy everything precious they had worked for. Or maybe it only looked like it because they still remembered the first time things like these had happened. 

They'd know once the newspapers arrived in the morning.

* * *

Draco had been pacing their kitchen for the past thirty-something minutes and Harry tried to ignore the nervous energy the wizard radiated while eating some eggs on toast. 

Both men were waiting with nervous impatience for the owls to arrive with the newspapers, but something told Harry that he really didn't want to see what they had to say about last night.

Draco leaping from one side of the kitchen to the other to tear open the window made Harry nearly jump into next week. He stood up to look out of the window himself. Up in the sky found two dots sailing towards their apartment at top speed. 

"How the fuck did you even see them from over there?" Harry asked as he picked up the toast he had dropped onto his plate.

"Not everyone is as blind as a bat, Potter."

Huffing at Draco's lame insult Harry flipped him off. Draco didn't even notice, he was too busy staring at the owls.

Each bird sailed through the open window and Draco dropped a few coins into their little pouches before they flew off again

"You take the _Prophet_ " Draco stated, "and I'll take _Witch Weekly_?"

"You just want me to read the _Prophet_ so you can check out 'The Wizard of the Weekend'," Harry snorted as he reached for the newspaper and unrolled it.

"Firstly, those articles are always very interesting, and you'd know that if you could stop thirsting over the accompanying pictures for a minute or so to read them. And secondly, I paid, so I can choose. And I choose the one with nice looking wizards in it, not old goblins and greedy Ministry people."

Shaking his head, Harry looked down at the front page. Nothing. There was nothing about last night. Only a report about new regulations that the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures had set up which now forbid the cropping of Crup tails to hide them from Muggle eyes. 

A short look through the pages came up with absolutely nothing. Harry couldn't find a single article. There was nothing. Not a paragraph, not a sentence. Not a single word about what had happened, and there had been more than enough time to fill half the newspaper with facts, figures and photos if necessary. 

Waiting for Draco to finish _'reading the interview'_ with this weekend's wizard, Harry peered at the front page of _Witch Weekly_ and found that daily lacking any mentions of the previous night as well.

Great. That meant there really was something up, and he was anything but happy about that situation. Hopefully Ron had more luck reaching Hermione last night and she was on her way home. Until then there were a few things they could already do.

"Nothing?" Draco asked with furrowed brows as he finally looked up from the newspapers.

"No. Not a word. Not even anything about Knockturn or broken things at Diagon. And seeing that your front page was equally disappointing then I'm guessing we're in trouble."

"Yes. Looks like it," Draco sighed. 

"Will you come with me to the Burrow?" Harry asked, folding his _Prophet_ and pushing it to the middle of the table. "I think Arthur could have some information on where to get started when events like these happen. If not him, then Molly. Both her brothers were in the Order at the time they died, she has to know how Dumbledore made the organisation."

"Do you think we'll need to form something like the Order?” Draco queried. "Because the others would totally be down for that, but I'm not sure if that is really what we need."

"Draco, we both saw what happened yesterday. I told you what the Ministry made us do during the day too! There is something suspicious going on, and I'm sure it's bigger than it looks right now. We have to be prepared, and that's the best way to start." Harry twisted his wand through his fingers. "Asking for information others could offer about how they handled stuff like that before."

"Fine," Draco sighed, resigned. "I'll come with you. But only because Mrs Weasley makes fantastic food and loves to spoil us."

"As if I don't spoil you enough already," Harry laughed, happy that Draco had come around to his way of thinking. He got up to clean the dishes.

"There's never enough spoiling me. You of all people should know that, Potter."

Shaking his head, Harry scrubbed their plates clean and put them back into the shelf before he went to take a shower. He did indeed know that Draco had always been a spoiled, pampered brat, and that hadn't changed after all the many years that had passed. 

As soon as they had arrived at the Burrow, Molly had already spied them and came bustling out of the house. The witch pulled them both into a hug that made their heads bump together and left Harry feeling slightly dizzy.

"Ron sent an owl to tell me you were coming over! How are you boys?" Molly radiated a joy that only came with seeing her loved ones. "I haven't seen you in a while, especially you Draco. You know that you're more than welcome to come here, right?" Mrs Weasley's expression carried a wide smile as she looked at them both with caring eyes.

"Yes, I know Mrs Weasley. But you know how it is, life gets busy and I'm usually just happy to get some peace from this one," Draco nodded towards Harry. "So I usually enjoy the silence at home while everyone else is here."

"Oh don't worry, I understand. Arthur is the same occasionally. He just goes to his shed then. Not me. I like to hear the bustling of life all around me. Please come over whenever you feel like it. And for Merlin's sake call me Molly."

"I'm fine too, thanks," Harry snorted as Molly had already started dragging Draco towards the house but she only threw a look at him over her shoulder that clearly meant 'Don't even try that on me' before they both vanished inside. 

Following his gut feeling—and years of experience—Harry walked towards Arthur's shed, hoping he'd find him in there. The sound of a small engine huffing and puffing inside told Harry he had made the right decision. 

Opening the door just far enough so he could stick his head inside, Harry tried to spot Arthur between all the random Muggle clutter that he stored in there. 

"Arthur? Can I come in? Or is now a bad moment?" Harry had no intention of getting his head blown clean off by one of Arthur's newest projects.

Harry heard clanking and rustling sounds from the far end of the shed. Seconds later the engine sounds stopped and Arthur's head emerged from between two piles of rubbish. 

"Harry! Come in! No worries, nothing dangerous. I was just trying to find out how those cleaning machines work but I'm not convinced I put it back together correctly because now it's making sounds it didn't make before! These things are fantastic! Truly amazing! But Merlin, they're not easy to put together. We could have used one of these when the kids were small. All the laundry. So easily done."

Grinning, Harry stepped into the shed and followed Arthur back to where he came from. There stood a half demolished washing machine that looked older than Harry. 

"Maybe things would work if you stopped stripping them down to the last part?" Harry chuckled.

"Probably," Arthur laughed. "But I wouldn't learn how they worked if I never took them apart. And if I don't know how they work, I can't figure out how to make them work around magic either."

"Fair."

"But I'm guessing you're not here to talk to me about clever Muggle inventions, Harry. Ron sent his owl. He told us everything that's happened, and told us to be careful when leaving the Burrow. I'm concerned. You know what this looks like, right?"

"Yes, I fear I do know. It feels a lot like last time. Draco thinks I'm mad, but—" Harry shrugged, a hundred awful memories coiling around his belly. 

"You're not, my boy. Sadly. It doesn't sound good. How can we help?"

Harry let his hand glide over a dusty shelf that seemed to hold nothing but wires in different sizes and colours before he turned back towards Arthur. "What do we do against this?"

Arthur looked over the brink of his glasses, his pale gaze full of concern. Harry knew he'd already lost so much., "What do you want to do?"

"I want to stop what is happening."

"Do you know what is happening? Not just the arrests. Do you know exactly what is happening, and why?"

Feeling some of the fight leave his body, Harry furrowed his brows as he thought about what he really, truly knew. And if he had to be brutally honest, it wasn't a lot. "So you're saying to find out what's going on, then we'll find out how to stop it."

"Exactly," Arthur smiled. "Dumbledore founded the Order of the Phoenix when _You-Know-Who_ rose to power the first time. He knew what was going on, he had watched him for years. Dumbledore knew what he was fighting against. The second time we all knew who our enemy was, right from the start. This here, this is a different thread. A different cloth. Right now, we know nothing, so we have to find out what's happening before it's too late."

"But how? How do we find out? Where do we even start?" Harry asked quietly. He felt like a child once again, the weight of other people's choices weighing heavily. 

"That is something I don't know. I'm not near any information. My job isn't very informative I fear and neither is it helpful. But I know a few kids, I saw them grow into the most respected, the most loyal and kind adults England has to offer right now, and they all work high security jobs. I think they'll be able to figure this out for us."

Smiling at Arthur, Harry nodded. "We will. I just hope we'll do so quickly."

"We all hope that, Harry. We all do."

Harry helped Arthur to work on his newest project until Draco and Molly called them both inside for lunch. 

It wasn't until they both felt like they'd explode from all the delicious food that Harry and Draco felt they could move on to the next point on the list of things they had to do. Saying goodbye to Arthur and Molly, they left to check the state of Grimmauld Place.

"Are you sure this is the right place, Potter?"

"Sadly, yes." Turning to face Draco, Harry grabbed him by his shoulder to stop him from getting any closer to Grimmauld Place. "There's something you need to know before we go in. Once I open this door, there will be a very creepy version of Dumbledore waiting for us. And I'm not going to lie, this scared the living shit out of me when I first saw it. It's a spell, an illusion installed by Moody before he died. It'll lock our tongues and make us unable to speak, but it only lasts a few seconds. Just…be prepared for it, yes?"

Draco stared at him in shock. But after a few seconds he took a deep breath and gave Harry a sharp nod.

Sighing, Harry pushed the door to Grimmauld Place open and waited for Dustledore to turn up and silence them. No matter how hard Harry had tried, he and all of his friends couldn't get rid of him. The creepy vision was only one of the many reasons he decided against living here.

"What the ever loving—?" Draco asked, when he was finally able to speak again. 

"Like I said, Moody made some adjustments to the house after Dumbledore died. We can't get rid of him. So he's now Dustledore, welcoming all my guests with grace and dignity. Just like the portrait of—"

_Blood traitors! Defiling my ancient halls! Oh I wish I was there to curse you out of my house! Disgrace brought over his own house! And the one who stole my home from my short-witted son! Son of a Mudblood!_

Rolling his eyes, Harry pointed his wand at the portrait of Sirius' mother and forced the curtains to slam shut, muffling her cursing and her screams.

"I see," Malfoy said, half-amused and half-horrified. "Yes this isn't exactly a place I'd want to live. You know that I can ask Blaise to remove both Dustledore and Mrs Black for you, right? He's a Curse-Breaker after all."

"But he stopped working as one about a year ago, I didn't want to bother him," Harry admitted.

"Well, once we have to stay here he'll do it without anyone asking," Draco answered, laughter in his voice "I just wish we had an elf. They could take care of this place for us, make it a bit more liveable. A bit more hospitable. "

"The school hasn't started yet, I could ask McGonagall to lend us a couple? I bet she'd say yes."

"Let's see how bad it really is, and then you can still go and ask her," Draco said, scrunching his nose as he pointed his wand at an entire wall covered in cobwebs to blow them away.

An hour later, and after Draco had seen—and complained about—every single room, Harry found himself marching through Hogsmeade. Draco didn't even ask him nicely to go and ask McGonagall, no. Draco ordered it, with a very firm but disgusted voice.

Once he was standing at the big gates, Harry smiled and he reached out to touch them, announcing himself to the castle, the Headmistress and probably half of the elves. Seconds later there was a _pop_ and an elf appeared at the other side of the gate. 

"Mr Potter, what an honour to have you visit. What can Pebble do for the sir?"

"I'd like to see Professor McGonagall, if she's here."

"She is, sir! She is! You can find her at the Quidditch pitch!" Pebble opened the gate and let Harry in, bowing deeply as he smiled gratefully at her.

Feeling his cheeks start to heat up, Harry walked past the elf and towards the pitch, wishing he had thought to bring his broom simply to spare him walking that distance.

Once there, Harry nearly laughed out aloud when he spotted four figures soaring through the air, each throwing the Quaffle at each other and simultaneously trying to beat everyone else off their brooms by hauling Bludgers at them.

Sitting down on one of the benches, Harry waited for them to notice him. That didn't happen until one of the people defended themselves from the Bludger by throwing the Quaffle at it, making it change its direction, and then caught the Quaffle again mid air just to score a goal. 

This move was the most impressive thing Harry had ever seen happen on those grounds, so he got up and clapped for whoever it was. It was entirely surprising then, when Harry found himself in a full body bind and dropping to the ground the next second. 

He really should have thought about not sneaking up to his former Professors like this. 

"Mr Potter! What in Merlin's name made you sneak up on us like that! You should know better than to conduct yourself in such a way!"

Feeling the spell on his body lift, Harry scrambled onto his knees with a groan and looked up at the familiar face. "Nice to see you too Professor. It's been a while."

"Yes. And with everything happening right now I'm not surprised about your visit at all," McGonagall huffed out before she held out a hand to help Harry up and onto his feet. 

Once he stood he looked around to see who the other people were, and nearly laughed as he saw Professor Sprout, Madam Hooch, and Professor Flitwick of all people, standing behind Professor McGonagall.

Looking back at the Headmistress, Harry grinned at her. "Was that you with that impressive move up there?"

"I'm old, Mr Potter, not dead. I never gave up flying, even after my injury. Glad I can still impress my students after all these years." She sniffed in mock offence, though Harry could see that none was really taken.

"As if you'd ever stop to impress me," Harry laughed, before he turned serious once again. "So you've heard what happened?"

"Rumours. A few whispered words, people hinting at something being wrong. Nobody seems to know any actual facts. Do you want to go to my office to discuss this?"

"No. The portraits. I'd rather not have them listen into our conversation."

"Where would you suggest this topic be discussed then?" the Headmistress asked, and Harry was happy to see that she was taking him seriously for once. Some small part of him expected her to send him to his common room and tell him to shut up about it.

"How about here? The Professors can stay, I'm sure they want to hear it too. I trust all of you with my life."

"Very well then." Waving her wand through the air Professor McGonagall transformed the bench Harry was sitting on, and the brooms the Professors had just ridden into comfortable seats that stood in a circle before she sat on one of them and nodded towards the others to sit down also.

Pulling his wand, Harry cast a _Muffliato_ over the circle before he sat down too and started to tell them everything that had happened so far, including the strange raid at Diagon Alley and what Mr Weasley had said to him.

After Harry had finished the story, which, to be fair, sounded more like an official Auror report at this point than anything else, heavy silence blanketed their assembly for many minutes as each of the Professors were trapped in their own thoughts.

"Well, Mr Potter. At least one thing never changes. You still rely on Mrs Granger to tell you what to do next. That's somewhat refreshing, but seeing that you're heading towards the Head Auror position also rather frightening," McGonagall huffed, cutting straight to the point.

Right at that moment Harry felt as awkward as a teenager. "Hey! I'm good at my job! Hermione just has a very unique view on everything and we trust her to see those things that everyone else misses."

"That she surely does," Professor Flitwick nodded. "She'd have done very well in Ravenclaw. But I always understood why she was sorted Gryffindor."

"So, Mr Potter. What's the plan so far?" McGonagall asked, looking Harry in the eye.

"I'll reinstall Grimmauld Place as a safe house, and will bring back the Order of the Phoenix if that's okay with you?" Harry said, unsure about what she'd think of that suggestion. He could only imagine the memories that those words would bring back.

"Don't ask me if you can bring it back. It's open for everyone, and we'll help as best we can. But Mr Potter, you must realise that soon a lot of young people will be back on this grounds, and we cannot, and will not, leave them unprotected at any time. I'll need all my professors here to keep my children safe. You of all people know that our students come first. "

"I wouldn't expect anything less from you," Harry said.

The Headmistress seemed to brighten at that. "So what brought you here? What do you need?"

"House-elves. Grimmauld is in a bad state, very bad. As many elves as you can send to my place to clean it up. Draco hexed me into next week after he nearly broke through the third floor ceiling. I need help to fix that place and actually make it liveable again."

"You can go and ask them." The witch smiled. "Whomever volunteers can go and help you. That house was already in a bad state when we used it as Headquarters. Just make sure they come back two days before our children return," McGonangall said, looking at him over the thin metal frames of her glasses. "And Mr Potter, make sure to keep this trouble away from Hogwarts this time. I won't have a repetition of last time. Stay in contact, I want to know what's happening."

"Yes, Professor McGonagall. Thank you for lending me the elves, I'll send them back in time. You can rest assured that they'll be well looked after. And of course I'll keep you updated on the situation, or rather Hermione will once she's back from Australia."

"Very well, Mr Potter. Please be careful."

"We will. We're used to Ministry nonsense at this point, right? But this time it'll be different," Harry said with a sad smile.

"What's different now?" McGonagall asked.

"We have the Slytherins on our side."

The smile spreading over Professor Mcgonagall's face displayed both pride and worry for them, and Harry couldn't help but feel like he was eleven years old again, and had only defeated a Troll in the girls' bathroom. 

Standing up, he nodded at all the Professors and Madam Hooch before he left the pitch. In a matter of moments he was back at the familiar stones of Hogwarts Castle. He hurried down to the kitchen. Once he was there more than half of the elves agreed to help him, and Harry gave them the Floo coordinates for Grimmauld and told them to go there whenever they felt like it. Next Harry made Pebble the head of their cleaning mission. He gave the elf his home address too so she could find him there if anything went wrong at Grimmauld.

The elf nearly fainted with gratitude at that. She thanked Harry for his trust by Apparating him back home so he didn't have to walk all the way back to Hogsmeade. Harry was more pleased than he could express. 

Draco was already waiting for him and smiled at Pebble as she dropped Harry off and vanished again, with a click of her spindly fingers. 

"So you had success and they'll help you, am I right? Or was this McGonagall's way of showing you the door?" Draco asked, half amused.

"Half of them will help with Grimmauld. It'll be spick and span in no time. What did you do while I was gone?"

"Visited first Pansy then Blaise. Mrs Zabini is on her way to France and my mother, and Pansy has a bag packed with her most necessary stuff. They're ready to vanish whenever they need to. Oh and Weasley sent an owl, the letter is on the table. It was addressed to both of us so I made the decision to open it. Granger will arrive early Monday morning, she couldn't rebook her Portkey so we have to wait for your brain to arrive when she was expected to arrive anyway. What did McGonagall say to all this?"

"I caught them playing Quidditch, you should have seen it!" Harry's voice was full of admiration "Anyway, McGonagall, Flitwick, Hooch and Sprout all are informed now and up to date with everything. They'll protect Hogwarts and have promised to assist as well as they can from Hogwarts. We're supposed to stay in contact with the Headmistress."

"Quidditch?" Draco laughed. "It doesn't surprise me! I knew they played once everyone was gone! I can't for the life of me picture Flitwick on a broom though."

"Once all this is done I'm going to quit the Aurors and go back to Hogwarts. I really miss it," Harry sighed, feeling wistful. "Isn't Filch due for retirement? I could take his position."

Snorting, Draco shook his head. "I'll join you. Maybe take Hagrid's position? We'd make such a great team there. Potter and Malfoy living the good life! Low stress jobs and good payment, I'd even live in that bloody hut just to get away from all this."

Sighing, Harry sat down on the sofa. He didn't doubt that they'd make a great team there, just they did everywhere else too nowadays. 

Going back to Hogwarts with Draco would be fun. They'd get to make some new memories amongst the corridors and the classrooms. Hopefully they'd both get out of this healthy and happy enough to consider it again once it was over.

"Stop brooding," Draco said as he sat down too. "Tomorrow is Sunday. We should take a day off and maybe go to the beach or something? Just get out of here and get away from everything to relax before Granger comes home on Monday. Much as I love the witch, you know what she's like! We won't have time for anything after that."

"How about we go to the Manor gardens and play a Seeker's game before we go to the beach?" Harry sighed, wishing that were the extent of his problems.

"Sure, why not. But we're not using your bloody Snitch, it hates me. I'll never catch that one."

Laughing, Harry agreed. The Snitch really seemed to have a strong dislike of anyone bar Harry.


	3. Chapter 3

After a relaxed Sunday, Harry arrived extra early at work Monday morning. He wasn't surprised to find Ron already in their office looking just as anxious as he felt.

"Any news yet?" Harry asked as he dropped the lunch Draco had carefully prepared for him on his desk.

"Not a word. But Mathilde sent us up the rest of our files so I reckon we should start working on those until we hear something else."

"I wonder if she ever goes home or if she just lives inside her archive," Harry sighed, taking the files Ron handed him.

Everything felt the same as Friday: nobody on their list was exactly suspicious, not in any way, shape or form. They were either related to or had befriended former known Death Eaters, or had an old conviction that wasn't too bad. One of them left the Leaky Cauldron without paying. Another suspect only had a case on the books because Umbridge had confiscated their wand during Voldemort times. Harry crossed that poor wizard from the list without batting an eye. He wouldn't put them through the trauma of red-coated Aurors turning up again.

By the time Ron and he had read through the new case files, it was already time for lunch. 

"You know Robards will have your arse for crossing a name from that bloody list, right?" Ron asked while unpacking his sandwich.

Harry snorted, for once not caring about his friend's opinion. "I fear that I started to not give a shit about what Robards says when I saw him taking down random people Friday night. I'm not going to arrest that poor git to satisfy his sick games."

"Yeah I'm with you there."

"Did Hermione come back?" Harry asked, taking a bite of his own lunch.

"Yes! At four o'clock in the morning! She wanted me to tell her everything right away but it was far too early." Ron sighed. "I told her to sleep first and that I'll tell her everything when I come home later."

Harry immediately felt his mood improve. "We'll come over tonight, yes? Or do you think coming to our place would be better?"

"I think it'd be wise if Draco got the Slytherins together and we'll meet up at yours," Ron answered. "Hermione will never stop planning if we're at ours. At least at your place there is the tiniest chance that she'll run out of books and plans and whatever she thinks of using this time," Ron sighed, thinking of his wife. "Also considering that there is no news from Robards then we should get to work on another arrest. Which one do you think next?"

"I think we should go for that witch at Penrith," Harry replied thoughtfully. "It says in her file that she's sold illegal potions before and she's already on the DMLE watch list so there's no harm in going there and checking the situation."

"Fine with me. Are you going to tell Robards in person to see if there's anything suspicious, or shall we send a note and just not check in with him?"

Humming, Harry looked at the pile of files on the table in front of them. "I think I'll go and update him. I can tell him that we have all the files and that we've decided to check the potions witch next. That's not too suspicious, right?"

Ron took a sip of his pumpkin juice before he spoke. "Nah, should be fine. As far as we know he has no idea that we saw him on Friday, and you don't want to change your behaviour. You usually keep him updated on cases."

Nodding, Harry ate the rest of his lunch before he got into his uniform again to pay Robards a visit. 

Walking closer to the office, Harry heard the tell-tale sound of hushed voices. Looking around he found the hallway empty, so he crept closer to hear what they were talking about, but it was to no avail. He could only make out a few words, and they were hushed and whispered. It sounded like a private discussion, not any Ministry-related matters. 

Taking the last few steps, Harry straightened his shoulders and knocked at the door frame before waiting for the permission to step into the office. 

"Ah Auror Potter, anything new? You know my wife, right?" Robards asked, looking rather relieved about Harry appearing in his doorway.

"Yes, Mrs Robards. Nice to see you again, I hope you're well?" Harry asked but didn't receive an answer. 

Harry immediately felt mortified. A person wouldn't need to be a powerful Legilimens to know she was livid. Mrs Robards was just staring at him, her face covered in angry red blotches.

"I'm just here for a quick update, sir. We've got all the files now and have decided to go for the potions witch next. We don't expect anything to go too wrong badly there, sir. Her report states that she didn't even act up the last time she got arrested for selling illegal potions."

"Very well, good luck Mr Potter. Please send a report once you're back."

"Will do," Harry said, nodding at both Mr and Mrs Robards before he left the office.

Joining Ron in front of their office, Harry only shook his head and pointed towards the lift so they could Floo into the _Golden Hag_ , the local wizarding pub in Penrith. From there it'd be only a short walk to her household.

"So what happened in Robards' office?" Ron asked, the moment they had stepped out of the pub. 

"His wife was there and she looked rather angry. There was nothing else that one could count as suspicious."

"His wife? I've never seen her at the Ministry except for events."

Harry could see that his best mate was suspicious. "Yeah, it all felt a bit off. But I couldn't really ask what she was doing there, could I? Robards told me to send a report when we're back, that's all."

"Strange." Ron mused, "but fine, it'll wait. I wouldn't be surprised if Hermione didn't have a plan in mind too."

Huffing, Harry looked down at the note with the address and he checked it against the street they were in currently. "I think two houses down?" he said, squinting behind his glasses. "It looks rather Muggle to me, what do you think?"

"Hmm maybe it's a spell? To hide it from Muggle eyes, something to make it look unsuspicious? We'll see once we're there."

The second Harry reached for the small wooden gate, he knew Ron was right. 

Magic tingled up through his arm and all but pulled him through an invisible barrier, spitting him out into a garden covered in strange shiny plants and ridiculous looking mushrooms. Ron joined him there only seconds later, his wand held at the ready. "I think you were right about the spell. This would all look _very_ suspicious to Muggles if you ask me."

"The mushrooms or the waterfall I see behind the house?" Ron snorted, casting his eyes all around the garden.

"Let's knock and see if she's home."

When nothing had happened even after five minutes of knocking, Harry sighed, starting to feel annoyed. "I guess we're not welcome here. Let me check for that, just to be sure." Pointing his wand at the door in front of him, Harry whispered _Homenum Revelio_ and waited if the charm would detect anyone in the house.

And just as he had expected, a glowing dot appeared in the air in front him, telling him there was at least one human inside there, and Merlin only knew what else.

"So? What now?" Ron asked, looking as perplexed and as tired as Harry felt. 

"We go home, quit our jobs and move to the Bahamas. Only once in my lifetime do I wish that people would make it easy for us," Harry sighed annoyed. " _Alohomora._ "

The lock of the door didn't snap open and Harry rolled his eyes. This could only mean that his life was about to get more difficult. It was time to put on his no-nonsense Auror voice. 

"I can't believe that. _Sonorus._ Mrs Millen, Aurors Harry Potter and Ron Weasley here from the Ministry of Magic, please open your door or we'll have to use force on it. We have an order to take you in for a questioning."

Next to him Harry could hear Ron mumble the Anti-Disapparition Jinx, making sure the witch couldn't flee. 

"Mrs Millen, this is the last time I'll ask for your cooperation," Harry tried, wanting to end this nonsense before it began. "Please come to your door and follow us back to the Ministry. Otherwise we'll have to write you up for another misdemeanor, and I'd really appreciate it if I didn't have to do the paperwork for this. _Quietus._ "

After another minute of waiting, the door finally clicked open and Harry stood face to face with a little grey-haired witch who looked rather unhappy about their visit.

"I didn't do it. Whatever it is," Mrs Millen said, and Ron next to him coughed. 

"We have to take you with us nevertheless," Harry said, feeling a little unhappy with himself for saying the words. "If you _didn't do it_ you'll be at home again in no time," Harry said, his voice softening. 

"Can I turn off the flames underneath my cauldrons before I come back home to find the damn things exploded?" She gave the pair of them a withering glare. 

"Can my partner and I come with you to make sure you don't vanish?" Ron asked.

"Of course, but be careful to not run into my plants," she snapped, "some of them are just as unhappy about visitors as I am."

Nodding at Harry, Ron was the first to go into the house before Harry followed them. Inside it looked just like Neville's place, but even worse. There were plants with multicoloured tentacles and fangs, others with tendrils that curled over the floor and walls all the way up to the ceiling, making the place look like an overgrown cave rather than a house.

"Which of those will kill us?" Harry asked wearily. 

"All of them. Depending if they eat you or you eat them," the witch giggled, batting an extra-large leaf out of the way. 

"What were the potions you were selling when the Ministry arrested you?" Ron asked with a grin.

"Wolfsbane, super potent Amortentia, Liquid Luck, Veritaserum, brews that aren't exactly illegal, but the Ministry still didn't like my customers, and since all those are all regulated potions they didn't appreciate me intervening in their business."

Ron grinned over his shoulder at Harry, and it was obvious that he'd taken an instant liking to the old lady. Suppressing an unprofessional snort, Harry followed them to a room in the back of the house. He watched in astonishment as the witch turned off the flames under nine different cauldrons. 

"You have a rather spectacular business going here," Harry noted, not even trying to hide how impressed he was with the elderly witch.

"Yes, but everything is legal, and the dangerous stuff is locked up with a powerful _Colloportus_ so nobody can get to it. If they do, then they deserve to get the potions. I pay the Ministry now, young Auror Potter, so I thought they'd leave me alone. Why do they want to see me anyway?"

"Some sort of high ranking investigation. And we're just the ones who got sent out to get everyone," Ron shrugged, jumping out of the way of a particularly vicious looking Venus Fly Trap.

"I have heard about those _investigations_ ," the witch shuddered. "Listen boys, I know you're just doing your job. But I'd appreciate getting back home. So if you'd check in in a week, just to double check that they've let me go, I'd be very grateful. I don't trust them, never did." She Accio'ed her coat and her tall, pointy hat. "But I think I can trust you, I can sense it. You have caught up, you might not know what they are doing, but you know that it's wrong. You'll help us." 

Smiling, she leaned into Ron and whispered something Harry couldn't hear. 

As Ron's back stiffened, Harry pulled out his wand and pointed it at Mrs Millen. But the next second she had already leaned back and winked at Harry with a grin on her face. "I think we're ready to go, gentlemen."

Leading the way out of the house, Harry lifted the Anti-Disapparition Jinx around her property, and once Ron and Mrs Millen joined him outside, they Side-Alonged her back to the Ministry.

Once they arrived, Harry and Ron placed the witch in one of the nicer holding cells before they once again brought her wand to the Artifacts, Articles of Magic and Stolen Items Room. They made their way back to their office.

"What the fuck did she whisper at you? Did she hex you?" Harry burst out as soon as the door behind them closed. "You need to take better care of yourself mate! Do I need to get you to St Mungo's?"

Snorting, Ron sat down at his desk. "She told me the password to her potion storage. She thought we might need it if we want to get her back home."

"She did what?" Harry asked, perplexed.

"Gave me the password."

"To her—? Why would anyone do something like that?"

"I don't know, but I think she knows. It's not going in the report."

Nodding, Harry agreed with his best friend and he sat down too. "I'll send a note to Robards, then let's write this lovely report of ours and go home. I'm already tired only thinking of tonight." 

"Yeah, going early doesn't sound too bad," Ron shook his head. "Hermione will have kittens if I don't show up early, I'm sure of that much."

Laughing, Harry scribbled a quick 'We're back. Holding Cell 15. Potter, Weasley' onto a memo and, with a quick swish sent the memo flying off to find Robards before he and Ron filled out the report. 

It'd been months since Harry had gotten to leave early, and he already felt full of dread that he wouldn't be able to enjoy the extra time off since he had to arrange tonight's meeting.

Harry had sent Draco a memo at the Department of Mysteries and promised him to get everything sorted before he got home from work. So now it was up to him to somehow get hold of the Slytherins.

Pansy was the first one he reached out to. The witch didn't even wait till the rest of the gang could come over but rushed straight into Harry's apartment, promising him that she'd get hold of the others as long as she could stay there until it was time for them to meet up.

In the end, Harry ended up with a house full of anxious, and therefore insufferable, Slytherins long before Draco came home and could take care of them.

The mood soon lightened a bit, once Harry had decided to order pizza for everyone including Draco, Ron and Hermione. For good measure Harry sneakily added four bottles of red wine to their order, knowing full well he'd get a headache from the cheap stuff they sold, but accepting his fate. Anything was better than living through this ordeal entirely sober. Especially when Draco came home and found his home already flooded with visitors.

An hour later, Harry brought out the visitor wine glasses and put them onto their tea table in the living room. Everyone was sitting around waiting for the pizzas and Draco to arrive.

Pansy and Blaise started a bet about which one would turn up sooner, while Hermione sat on the floor with a great pile of papers and books spread out in front of her. The witch was entirely focussed and was not even listening to the conversation happening around her.

In the end both Draco and the pizzas arrived at the same time, and Harry hurried to fill up his friend's glasses before Draco could say a word about the chaos in their home, and he pressed it into his hand with an apologetic smile. 

Taking a sip of the cheap wine, Draco sent Harry a look that could only mean, "I'll let it slip this one time, Potter," before he sat down on the sofa next to Greg.

"So," Hermione began once Harry had handed everyone a pizza box, "Ron filled me in with everything that's happened. I've written it down, made a series of notes and must say that you've already done excellent work. Setting up Grimmauld was the exact right thing to do." She looked around the surrounding friends, her expression warm with pleasure. "We'll have more people join us next time, I sent notes with our _DA_ coins. Would you believe that most of our old members still have them? We'll all meet at Grimmauld this weekend, Harry, I'll give you a list of people to visit and tell them the address."

Looking around, Hermione checked to make sure everyone was paying attention rather than just wolfing down their food before she looked back down on her notes. "As of now, we know nothing. We don't know who's causing this, and we don't know why. We know Robards is probably involved and we know half of our friends are in danger at this point. And I have some more bad news to add to this." She paused, a sober look on her serious face. "As soon as I came home and took a quick nap I did some research. There are Muggles missing, many of them. More people than usual. It looks like it started two months ago, random people—old, young, rich, poor—no links whatsoever between them. Just gone. Considering everything that you've told me, and the things I found out, then we have two options. The first one is that the Ministry is actually trying to find who is after those Muggles and random wizards and witches. Or the second, and possibly more likely, option is that some kind of Voldemort admirer is out there trying to fill the empty void."

"You're absolutely correct of course, Hermione, but what you're saying is scarcely news to us anymore." Blaise sighed. "We figured most of this out on our own already."

"Well, _Mr Zabini_ , I'm not sure what you expect from me but I can't just snap my fingers and make everything be right again. _But_ I can help to iron out this mess a little. Therefore I have"—Hermione made a heavy pause while she reached into her jeans pocket and pulled out a small velvet bag—"this."

Opening it, she pulled out a series of silver wristbands. "I figured that we'd outgrown the coins. Everyone will wear one of those, and whenever we have to spontaneously meet because something happened they will heat up. That's when we should rush to Grimmauld as quickly as possible. There's no way to send messages with those, sadly. But I'm sure we'll figure a way out to make them work."

With that, Hermione concluded her speech and the Slytherins all looked rather impressed. Each of them put their wristband on without complaining as soon as Hermione had handed them theirs.

"I also thought about our next steps," Harry said once everyone had their new accessory and before Hermione could start talking again. "I was in Robards' office earlier today. Now his wife was there so I couldn't see much. But I'll take my invisibility cloak with me tomorrow." He caught the eyes of his best mate. "Ron could you maybe distract Robards with something? Just enough that I could slip into his office unnoticed and take a look around without him realising."

Ron worried his brows, but sent him a short nod. Harry knew that he could trust the wizard with his life. "Yeah. I can do that," Ron answered shortly. "Also, I think we should go to Knockturn Alley tomorrow. We could subtly ask a few questions about Friday night and hope they know what happened and who those people were."

"Sounds like a plan," Hermione said, obviously satisfied with the pair of them. "Do you know how far along the elves are at Grimmauld Harry?"

"No? I could try and call for Pebble? She might answer."

"Yes, please try that," Hermione said, swinging her ponytail from one shoulder to another.

"I don't think they've come far. They've been at it for a day or so now. But sure."

"Two days. Don't think they're not working Sundays. Will you pay them?" Hermione asked, looking at Harry sternly.

"Hogwarts pays them, I offered McGonagall to repay her for it but she waved me off."

Hermione didn't look exactly happy about Harry's words, but she gave him an approving nod. That was better than he had imagined this might go.

"Pebble? Could you come to my home for a minute?" Harry asked into the room, and not even a second later the elf appeared in the middle of the room.

"Mr Potter has called?" she asked, entirely ignoring the room full of people in favour of staring at him with her huge eyes.

"Yes. Thanks for coming! Hermione has a few questions, would you mind helping her with them?"

"It'd be Pebble's great honour to help the famous Mrs Granger! So good to us elves, the Misses is!" the elf said, spinning around and bowing in front of Hermione who instantly turned pink.

"Hello Pebble, I hope you're feeling well?" Hermione asked, shooting Pansy a dark look because she had dared to snort at the scene.

"Yes, Mrs Granger. Pebble is feeling more than fine. What can Pebble help you with?"

"I wanted to ask if you'd already started at Grimmauld Place? I know there hasn't been much time yet—"

"Yes, Mrs Granger! We went there right after Mr Potter asked us for help. Pebble has made the helpers split into teams, we've been working there all around the clock!" Harry had to chuckle. The elf's ears were flapping in her enthusiasm. "One team works, one takes a break, just as the Misses has told everyone. I thinks we'll be done by tomorrow night, Mrs Granger." At her last words, Pebble nearly started to vibrate from excitement.

"Harry knew what he did by asking Britain's best house-elves for help, I see." Hermione smiled and Pebble made a tiny squeaky noise that made Harry grin widely. His other best friend truly had the gift of the gab. "Thank you for your help, Pebble, we truly appreciate it."

"Pebble is always happy to help, Mrs Granger. She sees why you need Grimmauld Place. This apartment is not big enough for hosting so many guests. Not that anything with Mr Potter's apartment is wrong!" she added quickly while turning to face him. "It's just not big enough to host the many many friends of him."

"That's exactly why we need Grimmauld." Harry smiled at her. "Very thoughtful of you, Pebble. I think that's everything that I want, please return to what you were doing before I called you here."

"I'll come back once we've finished our work tomorrow, Mr Potter." Bowing again, Pebble left with a pop and Harry looked over at Hermione with a grin.

"She's the cutest thing that I've ever seen," Hermione sighed. "She must be young. I think you've raised her confidence a great deal by making her the responsible one, Harry."

Shrugging his shoulders, Harry took another slice of his pizza. "So that's our plan? Check out Robards' office, Knockturn Alley and maybe Grimmauld tomorrow and then we'll go from there?"

"Exactly. Anyone else here got any suggestions?" Hermione asked into the circle. But the others stayed silent, so Hermione closed the discussion by finally taking a slice of pizza herself.

Catching Draco's eyes, Harry smiled at him. He really hoped that things would be fine now that they finally had a plan and a place to go.

Once everyone had left, Harry started to clean the living room but Draco stopped him by simply waving his wand at the empty boxes and glasses. He sent them flying towards the kitchen. "We can deal with this tomorrow. Let's watch some TV instead, yes? I really need a break after all this."

Yawning, Harry threw himself onto the sofa and turned on the TV before passing Draco the remote so he could choose. Casting a quiet _Accio_ , Harry let a fuzzy blanket fly towards the pair of them. Catching it mid-air, he threw it over Draco who sent him a small smile in response.

Entirely satisfied, Harry leaned back and waited for Draco to finally decide on what they would watch.

* * *

Harry stood ready, hidden under his invisibility cloak, behind a huge potted plant, waiting for the signal. Ron had promised him at least ten minutes, maybe more, with the help of some tricky items that were still in the experimental stage at the joke shop.

An earth shattering scream from somewhere at the lifts made Harry jump even though he had known it was coming. Robards had obviously heard it too, and he ran out of his office to investigate what was happening.

This was the opportunity Harry had been hoping for. 

Slipping out from behind the plant, Harry crept into the office and quietly closed the door behind him, going straight to work. 

First he looked at the piles of files on the desk but couldn't find anything suspicious, just regular parchment files, not a single one of which seemed to be relevant to the mass arrests. Next Harry went through the drawers and snorted at the fact that Robards used standard locking spells for all them. Honestly, he had expected more from the Head of the Auror office. After five minutes the wizard still hadn't found a thing and time was running out. 

Standing in the middle of the office, Harry looked around, frantically trying to find a place Robards could hide something. He could use a spell, but that was risky. Robards would very likely have detection spells over his office.

It didn't matter. His friend's lives and futures were more important. Harry decided that he could still make up a random story if he got caught. " _Aparecium._ "

Nothing. Not a single hidden thing or message. The room was clean and he surely hadn't had the time to check over all the files again. Harry still took the time to skim through the ones on the desk, hoping against hope for a miracle. But there were no hidden messages scribbled in those either.

Disappointed, Harry locked the drawers again and then he left Robards' office hoping that his boss wouldn't notice someone had been in there.

Slipping behind the potted plant, Harry got rid of the cloak and shoved it into one of the pockets on his robes before sprinting towards the lifts. The picture there resembled a scene of 'The Shining' and Harry snorted recalling George's latest fascination with horror movies, the blood-soaked Kubrick classic his favourite.

"Sir, Ron and I need to go to Knockturn Alley," Harry called over to Robards who was still trying to get rid of the mess. "We'll take the staircase."

Looking up, Robards acknowledged Harry's words with a quick nod before he nearly slipped in the red ooze on the floor. He ignored the two wizards after that, instead concentrating back on the task on hand.

"What the hell was that?" Harry whispered as soon as they were at a safe distance.

"A mix of a XXL Slime Bomb and Portable Swamp. George is still working on it," Ron replied, hiding a chuckle. "It's supposed to be for our Halloween line. But the red colour still dyes everything for more than 72 hours and so it's a pain in the arse to get rid of."

Snorting, Harry shook his head and dragged Ron towards the fireplaces to Floo out of the Ministry. Once they were at the Leaky Cauldron, Harry and Ron first sneaked to visit George at the Wheezes, wanting to give him the lowdown on the effects of his newest invention before steering towards Knockturn Alley.

"What if they find that stuff at the joke shop in a few months?" Harry pondered as they walked past yet another new coffee shop. "I wouldn't want George to get into trouble."

"I'll say I told him about it and that's where the idea came from. I don't think they'll even remember it by then."

"You're probably right. To the matter at hand. Let's figure this thing here out first." Harry sighed and looked over at Ron. "Who's waiting for us?"

Ron looked at the list in his hand and furrowed his brows. "The first one is Mr Peck, the second one Mrs Gardner. Dealing with illegal stuff, openly supporting You-Know-Who in case of Mrs Gardner, and other smaller minor convictions."

"Any history of openly violent behaviour?" Harry queried. "Or will this be an easy one for once?"

"Not as far as I could see," Ron said, furrowing his brow, "but we don't know how much they saw last weekend so be prepared for anything. Word may have gotten around."

Humming, Harry glanced at Ron's notes and came to a halt in front of Mr Peck's scuffy, shabby little book shop. "I bet not even Hermione would want books from here," Harry said with a shiver. "They look like the Horcrux book she got from Dumbledore's office. Remember how disgusted she was?"

"Yes. Let's hope that the books won't start attacking us as well."

"I'll keep the shield up this time," Harry said, already casting a _Protego_ as he spoke. 

Nodding, Ron opened the door. Together they stepped into the dimly lit, dusty room, batting spiders and cobwebs as they walked. 

"Mr Peck? Aurors Ron Weasley and Harry Potter."

"Don't hurt me! I'm coming! There's no need to use curses!" came a shaky, quivering voice from the back room. Harry and Ron exchanged glances. 

"Please come out and hand us your wand. We're not here to do anything, Mr Peck!" Ron called back, his voice steady as he looked questioningly at Harry.

Harry leaned closer to Ron before he whispered: "I think he saw what happened on Friday night."

Mr Peck chose that moment to step out of the back room. The wizard was ashen faced, terrified and instantly rolled his wand over to them. "Please don't hurt me," he begged. 

"We won't. We have to take you in for questioning though," Harry said, watching as Mr Peck's face fell. Many different emotions played on his expressions.

"I haven't seen anything! You don't need to take me in!" the man answered in a panic, the words rolling over each other in his haste to say them. 

Dropping the shield, Harry walked closer to him. "It's not about that, but my partner and I would love to hear exactly what you saw Friday night."

Sheer panic filled the man's voice. "They came here after everything had closed down! They came and they took whatever they wanted from a few shops down the road, then they started cursing people, they killed a friend of mine! For nothing but a few potions!" A tear leaked down his cheek. "Isn't your Ministry supposed to have some of the best Potions Masters around? Why couldn't they brew it themselves? Instead they came here and did _this_!"

"What else did they take, Mr Peck?" Ron asked quietly. He spoke to the wizard with complete respect. The old man had suffered enough. 

"Well the potions, and equipment for brewing potions, some odds and ends from Borgin and Burke's but then you'd have to go there and ask what exactly went missing, and Elf-Wine for an unbeknown reason. Wait! You young chaps really don't know, right? You didn't know what happened down here! How can you not—"

" _Obliviate,_ " Ron whispered from behind Harry. "He can't remember that we asked him. He'd tell Robards, that's not what we want."

"You're right. And by the time they'll get to his case most of the dizziness will have gone too. At least I hope for that."

"Shall we take him to the Ministry and then come back? Or do you want to go and check on Mrs Gardner first? We could stun and bind him until we come back." Ron looked rather unsure. They both knew it was protocol in cases like this, but doing that to him felt like too much.

"I don't think we need to take such extreme measures," Harry said. "This chap has been through a lot." Thinking for a second, Harry walked to the back room and found a fireplace there. "We could ask for backup to take him? There's a fireplace, I'm sure it's connected to the Floo Network."

"Let's do that. _Expecto Patronum._ Aurors Potter and Weasley need backup at Peck's Books in Knockturn Alley. Transport of suspect, not urgent. Floo connection possible."

They watched as Ron's Jack Russell Terrier ran off. Then they waited for their backup to arrive through the Floo. Having nothing to do but wait, Harry started to read the book titles on the shelf next to him. "So Necromancy is a top seller it seems. So many books on that topic. And Crup breeding? How are those books even on the same shelf?"

"Maybe some breeders are going the extra mile to keep their top dogs around?" Ron snorted.

"'s not related, you bloody nitwitss. 'n the books are there b'caus nobody wants them these days. What happened to me?" came the confused voice from Mr Peck.

"You fell, probably too much to drink. We're waiting for a team to take you with them, they have a few questions to ask you but will also make sure you didn't hit your head too hard," Ron answered without batting an eye. Harry had to smile. To think that it was he that was almost sorted Slytherin!

"Sounds like me," Mr Peck answered before he drifted off again.

"I think you might have said a little bit too much there," Harry said, concerned about how fast Ron had had an answer to the question.

Just as Ron shrugged, the Floo in the backroom flared up and two wizards from the DMLE showed up to take Mr Peck with them. They were stony faced and serious, not even asking any questions about the old wizard's state. 

Once they were gone, Ron and Harry went outside. They locked the shop with an extra powerful _Colloportus_ to make sure nobody went in there while Mr Peck wasn't around.

Only then they noticed that something was very off, even more than usual down in this sketchier part of London.

There was an eerie silence over the entire Alley, and at the far end, Harry could see fog creeping up towards them. 

"What the f—?" Ron started, but then a cold wall hit them and they both backed up against the shop, their feet slithering over the cobbles. "Shit. What the everloving fuck are they doing here?"

Harry felt the coldness claw on him, creeping into his body and filling him with dread like he hadn't felt in years. He could remember it familiarly. "Dementors?"

Harry's hands were shaking as he pointed his wand at where the fog was coming from. His blood trembled in his veins. " _Expecto Patronum!_ "

A white mist escaped his wand and trickled to the ground, and Harry watched in shock as about a dozen or more Dementors appeared out of the shadows in front of them. 

"Now's not the time to leave me hanging, Harry," Ron begged, his voice low and almost panic stricken as he conjured another Jack Russell who stood watch in front of them. 

"I'm on it," Harry hissed. "It's just the surprise, is all." 

Focusing on filling his mind with all the warm feelings and memories he could think of, Harry tried once again. " _Expecto Patronum!_ "

The stag finally broke free and together with Ron's terrier went after the Dementors who were still creeping ever closer, their creeping, black-robed presence sucking away Harry's happiness. 

Thankfully the two Patronuses were enough to get rid of them. Once the Alley was clear again, Harry crouched down to get a hold of his shaking limbs. 

"What the fuck were they doing here?" Ron panted, every bit of colour having drained from his face. He looked as upset as Harry felt.

"Honestly, I have no idea. We have to report this to Kingsley as soon as possible." Harry spat out. "He's the only one we can go to with this."

"Let's get Mrs Gardner first and then take care of this, they should be gone now so there's no immediate danger anymore."

Agreeing, Harry got up. Together they walked towards the location where the Dementors had come from, wanting to get their next job done so they could leave this godforsaken alley for good.

But once they reached the shop they found the next bad surprise waiting for them, and Merlin was it a bad one. 

Mrs Gardner sat on the floor next to the flesh-eating-slug-repellent with an empty, vacant look on her face and drool running all over her chin. Harry had never seen the victim of a Dementor's Kiss before, but this came very close to what he had always imagined. 

"Do you think—?"

"Yes," Harry answered before Ron could finish his question. 

His stomach coiled and squirmed. Feeling like he was going to vomit, Harry left the shop and called for aid from St Mungo's. Harry's heart dropped to the pit of his belly. They had been too slow and couldn't save her. 

The rational part of his brain had told him that this had already happened by the time Ron and him had left Mr Peck's shop, but that hardly helped him. He couldn't shake off the feeling of somehow being responsible for this.

"What do you think they were looking for?" Ron asked as he joined him outside. His eyes were wide and bloodshot. 

"I don't know. Could have been us by the way they were coming at us. Could have been our witnesses, or anything else." Harry cast his eyes all around Knockturn, like the old stones held the answers. 

"I think both. Us and them. Do you think this was supposed to be a warning? To stay out of whatever this is?"

"Probably. Possible. I don't know. How long do they take to come here? I want to leave." Harry couldn't help it. His voice shook. 

It took the Healers an eternity of fifteen minutes until they finally showed up. They took Mrs Gardner away with them after Harry and Ron had told them what had happened. They also let the Healers sign a short report in case they needed to prove this to anyone, seeing that they both intended to leave right after they had filled Robards in on what had happened.

There were things they both saw as acceptable risk for their job, but a Dementor attack wasn't on that list. 

Not even close to it.

Apparating back, Harry and Ron marched into Robards' office, not even amused at how red he was. They told him what had happened before letting him know that they'd be leaving now and that there was to be no discussing it. Then they turned and left before Robards could get a word in.

"I'll visit Kingsley later," Harry grumbled. "I'll come to your place once I've talked to him."

"Okay. I'll let Hermione know. See you later, mate."

Nodding at Ron, Harry left him waiting at the lift while he took the stairs, taking two at once until he was all the way down at the Department of Mysteries once more. 

He hadn't even the energy left to pace the hallway until Draco appeared, so he sat down on the cold floor and put his head on his knees while he waited. He was so anxious that he thought his heart was going to burst out of his chest. 

A few minutes later the door opened, and Draco's worried face appeared in his view. "Harry? Did something happen? Are you alright?"

"We got attacked by Dementors in Knockturn Alley. One of our witnesses lost their soul. Ron and I quit for the day."

"Wait here, give me a minute."

Jumping up, Draco ran back to the door and closed it behind him, leaving Harry alone again. But to Harry's surprise he was back again right away. "I took today off. Let's get you home."

"You shouldn't have—I'm only here to tell you to be careful."

"Harry. I am already overcautious," Draco answered, his tone quiet and sombre. "There's no sense in telling me. You're here because you don't want to be alone, and I am coming home with you. You don't have to be the hero anymore, remember? At least not for me. I know how stupid you are in reality. So let's go. I'll make soup, how does that sound?"

Suddenly feeling overly tired, Harry could only manage a nod as he allowed Draco to pull him on his feet. He dragged him towards the fireplaces so they could take the Floo back home.

Harry had no memories of how they got there, nor just how he'd got out of his robes and into his joggers and a holey old shirt, but at some point Harry woke up on their sofa, his feet in Draco's lap and covered by the fluffiest blanket that their home had to offer. 

And to make things even more perfect there was a bowl of steaming soup waiting for him on the coffee table.

"Good morning." Draco smiled as he saw Harry looking around. "Feeling better now?"

"Yes. Thanks for coming home with me."

"And the soup?"

"And the soup. Of course. Thanks for making soup for me. And covering me in a fluffy blanket. And probably getting me out of those robes and into something more comfortable."

"You're welcome," Draco grinned. "Now eat. I didn't waste ages making you the best soup you ever ate just for you to let it go cold." 

Smiling Harry tasted a spoonful of the rich soup and all but melted into his seat. It was so rich, tasty and delicious that it reminded him of— "Did you ask Molly for her recipe?"

"Maybe. What do you think we're doing when you wander off to Mr Weasley? Sitting around in silence?"

"I honestly never thought of it? But you always looked like you enjoyed your time there so I didn't ask."

"You're so attentive," Draco snorted. "A real catch. Now eat, Hermione told me that you wanted to visit Kingsley, and it's nearly time for him to leave work."

"Hermione was here?" Harry asked, barely pausing between two spoons of soup.

"No. I called her to ask how Ron is and sent them some soup for him. He's fine, by the way. Fell asleep right after telling Hermione what happened."

"Thanks for checking in on them."

"No worries. Now eat. You have to get dressed and go before Kingsley decides to leave the house again. You know where he lives, right?"

"Yes. We had a few Order meetings at his house after the war."

"Good. At least you're good for something then."

Rolling his eyes, Harry emptied his bowl at top speed before he dragged himself into his bedroom and looked for a pair of jeans and a presentable shirt. He didn't want to turn up in his full Auror robes at Kingsley's doorstep, but arriving there in his scruffy joggers also wasn't a smart move, seeing that his house was no doubt guarded and watched by the Ministry. 

Thirty minutes later Harry found himself knocking on Kingsley's door, still not sure how he was supposed to start the conversation. A simple 'Kingsley your fucking Dementors are on the loose' didn't sound appropiate to him, but he wasn't sure what else to say. 

When the door finally opened, Harry nearly jumped back and he had to try everything to suppress the urge to run away. He pulled the rough edges of his bravery tighter.

Kingsley looked _wild_. His general appearance was appalling; his eyes were swollen and red and he looked at Harry with a nearly manic expression, before his chapped, bleeding lips broke into a hugely dangerous animalistic grin. "I've been waiting for you. Come in, rush, they can't see you."

Carefully stepping inside, Harry watched as Kingsley stuck his head outside the door. He looked around, his eyes skittish, wide and panicked, before he closed it quietly and dragged Harry to his living room. 

He instantly closed the curtains before turning back to face Harry. 

"Did they send you?" Kingsley asked.

"Who?"

"They! The ones who—you don't know it. Of course you don't. They'd never drag you into this. You're too good. You'd never trust anyone you don't want to trust. Good decision. Very good. Always vigilant! Never allowing your guard to drop."

"Kingsley, are you okay? Is someone threatening you?" Harry asked carefully. His old, well-respected mentor was a broken man.

Kingsley was mad, clearly. Entirely bonkers. 

And Harry felt quite overwhelmed by the situation. Seeing this was even more frightening than the Dementors this morning. At least they were true to their nature, vile and dark as they were. 

"No. Yes. I don't know. Harry, something is wrong, something is happening and I don't know what it is. Do you know what is happening?"

"Kingsley, do you want me to take you to St Mungo's? What are you talking about?"

"I don't know." Kingsley sat down and started to massage his temples. "Why are you here?"

"Ron and I got attacked by Dementors this morning. They Kissed one of our witnesses! Kingsley, there are strange things going on, and I don't know what to do with it. What happened to you?" Harry was close to pulling his hair out in frustration. "What is this thing we're dealing with?"

Kingsley looked up, and for a second he looked like he understood, that he knew what was going on. Kingsley opened his mouth to say something, but then a sudden, sharp, loud banging from the door stopped him. 

Kingsley shot up and pulled his wand, getting between Harry and whatever was coming at them from the front door. Fear surged and raced through every cell of his body.

"Flee, Harry. Run."


	4. Chapter 4

Harry looked around frantically. As far as he could tell there was no way he could get out of there. No fireplace, and the only door was blocked by Kingsley who was breathing heavily with his back turned to Harry.

Bracing himself, Harry pulled out his wand to stand beside Kingsley and face whatever was coming for them head on. But, once Kingsley noticed that Harry hadn't climbed out of a window, he turned around to look at him with pure, seething fury and pointed his wand at him. "I said flee."

"I won't—"

At the conclusion of Kingsley's words Harry felt himself get pulled away from the place. It felt like he was Apparating, but it wasn't his own consciousness that was leading him away. The darkness surrounding him felt suffocating even though it lasted only a couple of seconds before he crashed onto the ground again, breathing heavily as he sank onto his knees. 

Harry slowly looked around his surroundings. With a shock he realised that he had found himself in front of his own home.

Standing up he dragged his shaking body up towards the stairs and his apartment, hoping that he'd at least find Draco there. They all needed to go to Grimmauld—Draco, Greg, Blaise, Pansy and him!—they all needed to meet there, as soon as they possibly could.

Harry crashed through the door, throwing it shut behind him and shouted for Draco who hurried to his side. 

"I'm pretty sure Kingsley was just murdered, we have to go. Now," Harry stuttered out, finding Draco's eyes with his own 

"What are you talking about, Potter?"

"Pebble!" Harry called, ignoring Draco who was still staring, shocked and appalled in his direction. There was no time for explanations now. 

Pebble appeared and bowed deep but Harry cut her off before she could even utter a word. "Please take my friend to Grimmauld Place, he'll tell you where his friends live, go and get them all," Harry told the elf, hoping that she could recognise just how vital her task was. "Just take them there, don't let them ask any questions, I'll meet you there in about thirty minutes."

Pebble didn't hesitate, she reached out, grabbed Draco's hand and took him away. Harry's heart nearly shattered into a million pieces as he saw the look of fear on Draco's face before he was gone. Harry sighed and shook his head. He couldn't allow himself to be scared for Draco. He'd be safe at Grimmauld for now.

Running back to his living room, Harry threw Floo powder into the fireplace and shouted Ron's address before he jumped into the green flames.

Saying he fell out of Ron's and Hermione's Floo would have been an understatement. They both heard him crash into the wooden table which stood at a fair distance from their fireplace and both Weasley-Grangers came running into the room.

"Harry? What happened?" Hermione asked as Harry coughed and spluttered from the ashy powder. 

Harry had swallowed a good load of soot and ash on his way there, and he shook his head, scarcely sure whether he could even speak right then. Hurrying to the kitchen Harry gulped down an entire glass of tap water in a hurry before he looked at them both and felt his knees gave way again. "Kingsley. I think he's dead. We have to get everyone. I sent Pebble to get the Slytherins to Grimmauld Place. Do you think anyone else is in immediate danger?"

"What? Are you sure?" Ron asked as Hermione already ran out of the room. He looked aghast at the words Harry had shared with him.

"Yes, I was at his place and he was off, he wasn't himself, it was like a part of his mind was broken, and then there were people coming, and—"

"No time, Ron, Harry, wands at the ready," Hermione called as she came running back into the room, her voice stronger than the look of fear in her eyes might have suggested. "Harry, your Patronus goes to McGonagall, tell her to come here immediately. Ron, you inform Molly and Arthur, I'll take Neville. Let's get this going, shall we? I think we're going to need all the help we can get! Did they see you were there, Harry?"

"No," Harry said cautiously, going to a window to look outside. He couldn't see anything. "But if they watched the house then they saw me enter shortly before so I wouldn't trust how quiet it is now."

"Even more reason to hurry up then," Hermione said decisively. " _Expecto Patronum._ We are in immediate danger! The Minister is dead. Meet us at our home."

Ron and Harry both followed Hermione's order and sent their Patronuses off, hoping they'd get heard by the people they trusted most in the world. 

It took barely ten minutes before Ron and Hermione's home was crammed, with far more people than Harry had ever expected to show up arriving, all of them looking at him, anticipating what he was going to say and waiting for Harry to update them all about what had happened. 

"We have a safe house," Harry began, looking grimly at the surrounding witches, wizards and elves. "I want you all to go to 12 Grimmauld Place, meet us there. There are already a few people there, we took the Slytherins back first," Harry said, looking at the scared faces all around him. Even McGonagall looked more than a little bit worried.

One after the other left back through the Floo. The last ones to go were Ron, Hermione and Harry who decided to wait another ten minutes to see if someone else came to meet them. When they realised that nobody else was coming they gave each other a grim look. It was the three of them facing the world once more. 

Once Harry, Hermione and Ron made it back to Grimmauld they were surprised by an open, bright and friendly room rather than the dark and dusty place they had expected. At first, Harry wasn't even sure if he was at the correct place, but when Pebble appeared in front of them with a big smile on her face Harry knew he was right. 

"I brought Mr Potter's guests to the big dining room on the first floor and served them drinks," Pebble said, pride radiating from her in waves. "I hope Mr Potter approves of this. His guests looked rather distressed upon arriving. The elves are still busy on the top floor, but we won't disturb this get-together."

It took everything that Harry had not to run straight out of the room and instead exchange a few words with the kind-hearted elf, knowing anything else would just make her think he didn't like what they had done. Harry could still remember Dobby's extreme reactions when he felt he hadn't pleased him. It wasn't true that Harry didn't like Pebble's work, but also it was not a priority right now. But Harry remembered the lesson he had learnt about mistreating house-elves too well to ignore it. "Thank you Pebble, the place looks amazing," he complimented with a smile. "I thought we'd exited the Floo too early. Does every room look as good as this one?"

"Yes, Mr Potter," said Pebble, making a deep bow. "Some things could not be fixed anymore, and we remembered how much Mr Potter loves Hogwarts, so we decided to not disturb the Mister and just use what we know from Hogwarts to replace things." She frowned then, looking anxious. "But there are some things not even we can fix."

Remembering the portrait of Mrs Black and Dustledore waiting right in their places in the Entrance Hall, Harry bit his lip. "I hope they didn't give you a headache." 

"No, Mr Potter, we are used to working around Peeves"—she made a small scoffing noise—"so working here was a nice break. I will now go and join the others, please call for Pebble if you need her to collect other friends."

"Thank you Pebble!" Harry said, terribly grateful. 

They waited until the elf was gone before they stepped out of the room and ran up the flight of stairs to the big dining room where, just as Pebble had insisted, everyone sat on comfy looking chairs with various drinks in their hands, waiting for them to arrive.

"Harry!" Draco called out as soon as he saw him enter the room. His voice was filled with more concern than Harry had ever known. "What happened? What's going on?"

Looking around until he found him, Harry instantly walked towards him to take the empty spot next to him. His legs carried him over unconsciously. Harry didn't care what the others might think of that, he just needed to make sure Draco and the others were okay.

Once Harry had sat down and checked if the Slytherins were all fine, Harry looked around and took a deep breath before he told everyone what had happened. He explained how Kingsley had somehow sent him straight back home instead of allowing him to stay and fight by his side. When he talked about how he feared his mentor was dead, Harry heard his voice crack with the deep upset that he felt. 

"So you didn't see what happened?" Blaise asked quietly as soon as Harry had finished.

"No. But whatever happened, even if Kingsley does come back to the Ministry tomorrow, it won't be him. He wasn't himself anymore when I arrived at his place. He was already lost."

"What'll we do now?" Seamus asked from his place next to Dean at the other end of the table. 

"Honestly?" Harry asked, looking into the eyes of everyone he knew and trusted, "I have no idea."

"We should go and check on Kingsley," Ginny said and Arthur nodded approvingly. "If we've enough people then nothing can happen."

"I can go alone," McGonagall said, casting her eyes around the assembled circle. "Nobody saw me leaving Hogwarts. They don't expect a stray cat to be anything more than a stray cat. I'd be in and out in five minutes and we'd know if Kingsley really is—" Her voice broke at the last part.

Thinking for a second, Harry gave her a nod. "I'd appreciate that, Professor. That's probably the safest way. We'll wait here for you."

Standing abruptly at Harry's words, McGonagall left the room.

Leaning back, Harry took a deep breath while Hermione handed out bracelets to those who hadn't received one yet.

"Sorry for dragging you out of your homes," Harry said quietly to the Slytherins. 

"We've had worse. But you'll have to go back with us so we can get clothes and other things we'll need. We couldn't take anything," Pansy sighed, her voice trembling 

"We can do that later," Harry replied with a decisive shake of his head. "I'll get my cloak and come back, then we can go to your places one after the other. I'll pack Draco's stuff while I'm at home."

"Don't you think people will find it a bit strange that we vanished right after the Minister of Magic died? They'll suspect us," Blaise grumbled.

"If they notice that you're gone in such a short span of time then that'll be your smallest problem," George interrupted, looking into Blaise's eyes with a powerful gaze. "That'd mean that they were already after you anyway."

"He's right," Hermione said while she helped Luna click on her new bracelet. "It'll only be a matter of time until even Harry, Ron and I have to go into hiding once more. Let's just hope that it won't be camping again."

At that both Ron and Harry groaned, remembering vividly how difficult and arduous those few months had been the last time they had been on the run which only earned them odd looks from everyone else.

When McGonagall came back ten minutes later her face was pale. Sinking into the closest chair she could find, the witch snapped her fingers and a bottle of scotch appeared out of thin air with a sparkle and hiss of magic. "Kingsley was killed; his house got entirely destroyed," she said, her stately eyes filling with tears. "The Muggle police were already there, saying it was a gas explosion."

The entire group fell into absolute silence. Neville was the first one to gather his thoughts after McGonnagall's words, and as he started to speak, all heads snapped towards him.

"The Slytherins should stay here," he stated baldly, his voice confident. "We have to go to work and pretend like we know nothing and then see what happens. Harry, you're the most famous young wizard in England, if you don't go back it'll only draw more attention to Draco not being around. And we need you in the Auror department with Ron because you're the ones in the front line and you'll hear things first there, things the rest of us aren't privy to. Luna and I will go back to St Mungo's, and we'll keep an eye out. We'll let you know if something happens there." He twisted his wand through his fingers, pausing to ensure that the rest of the table were listening. "We have to keep our eyes open now, have to figure out how to end whatever this is before it's too late. And if anything goes wrong we can join the Slytherins here."

There was a hushed silence, and the nerves of the assembled witches and wizards were tangible. 

Hermione was the first to break it. 

"I'd like to mention that everyone who has to come here should Apparate another place first before they jump here," she declared, her voice strong and no-nonsense. "Just a safety procedure to not bring anyone into this place, even though it shouldn't be possible if Harry hadn't told them the address beforehand." 

In agreement, Harry looked at all the worried faces surrounding him before he let out a slow sigh. "I think that's all we can do for tonight. Everyone who can help should be here tomorrow again, maybe a bit later than today." He played with the cuff of his shirt as he spoke, feeling the anxiety course through his blood. "By the evening we'll know what is going to happen next and which steps we should take from there."

One after the other left the room, whispering their goodbyes and patting Harry on the back, until only Ron, Hermione, Harry and the Slytherins were left. 

"I'll go home and fetch my Invisibility Cloak and come back as soon as I got some of Draco's things," Harry said, already standing up. He preferred to be busy, he always had. He loathed just waiting around for terrible things to catch up. 

"I'd prefer to get my stuff myself," Draco said, looking at him with furrowed brows. Harry could sense how upset Draco was and he could empathise. The whole situation felt so out of control. "Can we somehow make that happen?"

Biting his lip, Harry looked at Ron who only shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want to place Draco in a risky situation, not if it was as present as it was right now. But Harry knew, also, that he wasn't playing fair. Draco was a fully grown wizard so he couldn't really tell him no and let the others go and get their things themselves, could he? It was simply easier for Harry to collect Draco's things without placing him in danger than it was for the others to collect their belongings. 

"I don't want to—"

"If I can't leave, the others also shouldn't go, Potter," Draco said, his cheeks flaming. "I'm not some wet-behind-the-ears first year baby! Just check if it's safe to come through first, I'll even wear your damn cloak for packing," Draco carried on, his voice annoyed.

"Fine," Harry reluctantly agreed, "But you'll wait till I give you the okay, and you will wear the cloak."

"If I haven't heard from you within a minute I'll come through anyway," Draco snorted, not taking Harry's serious Auror voice as a threat. "I won't let you fight those crazy bastards on your own once again."

Rolling his eyes, Harry hurried out of the room to use the fireplace downstairs. He had to move quickly and make fully sure that things were safe at their apartment before Draco decided to ask Pebble to get him there. He knew how impulsive Draco could be on occasion. 

Once at his apartment, Harry cast _Homenum Revelio_ to see if any nasty surprises were waiting for him. Thank Merlin there weren't any. Once that was done Harry decided to put an extra layer of warding spells on their front door and every window before he sent off his Patronus back to Grimmauld Place to tell Draco he could come through.

As soon as he arrived Harry threw the Invisibility Cloak over Draco's head. Even though he hotly accused Harry of behaving like a mother hen, Draco let it stay in place as he stomped through the apartment and gathered his things. To Harry's amusement Draco's belongings included nearly all the food from their kitchen and all the snacks Harry had hoarded in a drawer in their living room. 

"Don't pretend like you won't come to Grimmauld straight after work anyway," Draco snorted as he discovered Harry watching him steal all the sweet and savoury snacks and empty the pantry. "You won't be able to keep away, Potter! I'll have dinner for you when you arrive. Well, that is if the others decide to leave you any!"

Shaking his head at Draco's impudence, Harry stalked over to one of the windows. He glimpsed out onto the street, trying to see if anyone was watching their apartment. But thankfully it was empty except two or three Muggle cars passing by while Draco raided their bathroom.

Fifteen minutes later, Draco finally appeared behind Harry. The cheeky bloody git scared him into the middle of next week as he tapped his shoulder to let Harry know he was finally ready to leave.

The other Slytherins were already waiting for them at Grimmauld Place. To Harry's relief they had decided that Hermione would go with Pansy while Ron would go with Greg and Blaise. Ron had worked his Auror magic already: both men were already perfectly hidden with a Disillusionment Charm. 

After Draco had handed Pansy the cloak, everyone soon vanished. He and Draco were alone once more. 

"How many bedrooms does this place have?" Draco asked.

"Uhm. No idea, honestly," Harry answered, taking in the comfortable surroundings that the elves had created. "But I know someone who can answer this. Pebble?"

The elf appeared and looked first at Harry then at Draco and back again. "Pebble didn't want to disturb your meeting," she said, her little voice quivering with respect. "We finished the cleaning and fixing. What does Mr Potter need?"

"Bedrooms," Harry answered, gesticulating at the surrounding building with his arms "Four for now. Some of my friends will be staying here until further notice, and there might be more of us in a while."

"Pebble will prepare the bedrooms then," the elf answered smartly. "Mistress McGonagall looked very distressed, will she be one of your guests?"

"No," Harry said with a shake of his head. "She's back at Hogwarts, she needs to protect the school. The young ones will need a safe place to stay when school starts again. Hogwarts needs to be a bastion of safety. "

"Pebble understands," said the little elf, "If Mr Potter and Mr Malfoy go to the second floor, there will be a bedroom waiting."

"Thank you Pebble," they both said before the elf left them alone once again.

Making their way through the house, Harry marvelled at the changes the house-elves had made. Grimmauld looked almost unrecognisable. The whole building was warm, cosy and hospitable. Harry briefly wondered if they had managed to get rid of the nasty tapestry with all the Black family members sewn into it, but that thought vanished when Draco bumped against him by accident. 

Reaching out, Harry made sure Draco didn't fall, and didn't stop watching the other man until they reached the second floor and saw a light shine out of one of the rooms.

"You need something to eat," Harry noted as they walked towards the room. He let his eyes flick over the man beside him. "You haven't had anything to eat in ages."

"I ate while you were gone. You're the one who needs food, Harry," Draco said, a smirk playing around his thin lips. "I have leftovers in my bag, you should eat them before you go home."

"I'm not hungry at all," Harry answered, not wanting the cheeky bloody Slytherin to have the upper hand.

Harry could feel Draco rolling his eyes at him and knew he wouldn't let this topic slip, not until Harry hadn't eaten something. "Fine," he capitulated. "I'll eat something if I must! But first we'll check your room, then we can go and stock up the kitchen and I'll have the leftovers."

"Good," Draco said, obviously cheery now that he had gotten his way. "Let's see what room the elves have prepared for me. If it's anything less than the Master Bedroom I'll throw a fit, Potter! It's a Black house and I'm a Black after all."

Harry grinned at the blatant attempts Draco was making to lighten the mood. He supposed that was why they always got along so well. Both of them always knew how to cheer the other one up. At least once they had gotten used to each other, that was. It'd be a lie if Harry had said it had been like this from the very moment they moved in together. The two of them had learnt to get on, learnt to understand one another. 

But that hardly mattered now.

Stepping into the big room, Harry gawked and Draco laughed. It had been decorated in a very obvious Slytherin green and one could definitely call it a Master Bedroom. It was pompous, and nearly offensive in its size and ostentatious display of wealth oozing from every inch of the room. Alone, the bed was the size of a small flat if someone were to ask Harry.

"Is Mr Malfoy happy with this room?" Harry asked in a mocking tone. "Or would he rather have the elves get rid of another wall in here to make it even bigger? Honestly, the only way this room could get even more like your younger self is if we'd have gotten a family of peacocks to strut around in here."

"Shut it, Potter," Draco said, not unabashed even the slightest. "You wouldn't even recognise class if someone shoved it in your face. It's a nice room. It'll do me for now."

"Draco this room alone is as big as our current apartment," Harry chuckled. "Bloody hell. It's bigger than the house I grew up in."

"And your point?" Draco grinned, his face creasing with mirth. 

"You're unbelievable."

"That's one of the reasons you like me." Draco shrugged. "Can't be that bad then."

Throwing himself onto Draco's bed, Harry watched him unpack while waiting for a sign that the others had returned. When he was finally happy that they had all come back in one piece, Harry began to relax a little bit. Nothing would happen to any of his friends tonight.

Harry narrowed his eyes. He had caught a glimpse of Draco, who was hurrying to hide something in the big mahogany wardrobe. Harry crawled out of the bed to sneak up on him. "What are you hiding there?"

Draco jumped and turned around, and Harry realised that Drcao's face had turned a light shade of pink, a fact that made Harry grin for no reason at all.

"I brought some of your clothes along in case you have to leave too," he said, pulling the coat hangers apart to demonstrate what he meant. "Just so I could be sure you had something to wear. I assumed you would notice as soon as you got home anyway," Draco admitted, not quite looking him in the eyes.

Harry was speechless. He hadn't ever thought that Draco would take such a small—but such an important—task into consideration. And when he threw a glance over Draco's shoulder he noticed that it wasn't just any clothes that Draco had brought. It was his favourite clothes, the items that made him feel most secure. A jumper Molly had made him, his comfy joggers and warmest socks that he barely ever wore nowadays. The jeans that fit just perfectly, and a few extra things he might need. He didn't have the words to express how much this action meant. So rarely had Harry been the first person in anyone's thoughts. 

Pulling Draco into a hug, Harry hoped he'd understand how much this small gesture meant to him. Draco obviously cared, and so did Harry. 

"You'll be alright here, won't you? I never asked you if you were okay with this," Harry breathed, still holding onto Draco. "Never asked if this was what you wanted."

"Of course. It's not like I'll be alone here," Draco said, the wizard not making any move to let go himself. "And even if it was a cave, I'd rather be there than dead. Thanks for watching out for me and my friends, not everyone would do that."

"They're my friends too," Harry said, his voice soft. "Just like you are."

"Yeah, you're probably right. But still."

They stayed like this, the two of them hugging in the middle of the room, until Harry's stomach decided to prove Draco's earlier words were true by grumbling loudly.

"Let's go to the kitchen, I bet the others will be gathering there in a bit," Draco said, letting go of Harry. 

Harry missed the warm comfort of his friend before his skin had even cooled.


	5. Chapter 5

The last thing that Harry wanted was to Floo into work the next day. 

He was absolutely not happy about it. He'd far rather have stayed at home in a haze of self-pity and raw grief for the mentor he had lost, than have to go into the DMLE's offices with a fake smile plastered on his face, pretending that nothing had happened the night before.

His night's sleep had been shit, to say the very least. He had been haunted by vivid, vicious nightmares, the scenes of Kingsley's home playing over and over again, spiked with the high-pitched laugh of Voldemort and sickening memories of the Battle of Hogwarts. 

His mind felt like a broomstick caught in a storm, untethered and out of control. Harry felt like someone had thrown him back in time—thrown him back to the worst point in his life—and he was not ready to deal with that again. 

But Harry was resolute. If he didn't go to work then he'd miss whatever happened next, and whatever that was was crucial for the Order's next steps.

So Harry dragged his tired body out of bed and Flooed into the Ministry, arriving even before Ron did. 

Ron came in at the very moment Harry was signing the memo to the Head of the Department of Mysteries, telling her that Draco had come down with a bad case of the Mufflemumps but that he'll be probably back in the Department the following week.

"You look like shit, mate," Ron observed, hanging his work satchel on the peg beside their desks.

"Thanks, I know. Pretty sure I didn't sleep at all last night." Sending the memo off, Harry watched it fly out of the door before he yawned hugely into his fist. "If anyone asks why I'm as tired as a tormented troll then it's because Draco is sick, and he kept me awake all night. That there was his sick note."

"Smart. When do you think—" Ron's sentence got interrupted by a memo swooping through the door and into the room. Snatching it out of the air, Ron unfolded it and furrowed his brows. "Meeting in five minutes in the Atrium. I guess that answers my question."

"Lucky I didn't get out of my uniform yet," Harry said, rubbing his eyes beneath his thin metal frames. "Lets go so we can grab a good spot."

When they stepped out of their office, Harry and Ron joined the steady stream of Aurors walking towards the staircase, all of them wise to the fact that lifts were probably already full. 

He hadn't seen a full Ministry meeting yet. As a result, Harry had never realised how many people actually worked here until he had to find an empty spot big enough to fit him and Ron in the moving mass of witches and wizards.

On their way Ron and he caught several hushed whispers, people speculating about what had happened, or perhaps might happen. The worst part was that many of them were staring blatantly at Harry and Ron. 

It was only once the pair of wizards entered the Atrium that Harry realised the last time this had probably happened: when the wizarding world realised that Voldemort had returned. The staring witches and wizards probably hoped that he'd be the one to stop it if history decided to repeat itself.

Shuddering at the very thought, Harry pulled Ron towards a place on the other side of the room where they'd be able to see the small platform but would hopefully still be invisible in the flood of faces.

"The Floos are closed. There's no way in or out," Ron suddenly whispered into Harry's ear. His voice was nervous and Harry knew that his friend had never seen anything like this either.

Turning around, Harry had to see whether it was true. He didn't like this at all. Feeling as trapped as a chained dragon, Harry hid his wand in his sleeve, just to be sure he could reach it if necessary.

The minutes slogged by, slow as hours, and by the time an individual finally stepped onto the platform the entire Atrium was filled with so much nervous tension that Harry could nearly reach out and grab it. Magic coursed and coiled through the air, prickly on Harry's skin.

Squinting, Harry recognised the red face of Robards standing up there, looking down at the mass of magical folk, waiting for the room to fall silent.

"Witches and wizards of the Ministry. We have organised this meeting today to share devastating news with you all." Robards took a dramatic pause and looked around the packed, frightened, room before he pulled a parchment out of his pocket. He made a great show of unfolding it before he spoke again. "Our Minister, Kingsley Shacklebolt, died last night in a horrible accident."

There was a collective intake of breath, and Harry was sure he heard some people break out in tears, but Robards didn't pause. He simply just kept talking.

"There was a gas explosion in his house," Robards continued, his voice amplified and echoing with magic. "The Muggles were there even before we could arrive at the scene. There was nothing anyone could have done, his house got entirely destroyed. We understand that this might come as quite a shock, and believe me when I say that nobody is more hurt about this than I am. He and I spent many years together, first as partners in the Aurors and then as friends after he decided to take the hard job of leading us out of one of the darkest eras of recent history."

Looking at Ron, Harry furrowed his brows and, barely noticeably, nodded towards Robards before mouthing the word 'Minister'.

Ron gave him a short nod before he looked back at Robards. The wizard was still rambling about his friendship with Kingsley, full of his self-importance and vanity.

"—deeply missed. Therefore, and as soon as this meeting is over, everyone is allowed to go home for the day. We here at the Ministry won't force anyone to stay. Everyone who wants to stay here to make sure we have enough people for emergencies is welcome to do so." He paused, making doubly sure that everybody was listening. "By tomorrow morning I'll take the place the loss of my friend has left empty, until we find a worthy replacement for him. I'll also keep the role of Head Auror, seeing that I have no intention of becoming Minister myself and hope that this temporary solution will find an end as soon as possible."

With that, Robards concluded his speech and people actually started clapping. Harry had to join them, not wanting to be seen as a rebel, even though the only thing he could think of was 'bullshit'. Every word that the Head Auror had said was a lie. Robards didn't look even the slightest bit sorry about Kingsley's death at all. But people were just too willing to believe him.

"I think the important things have been said. Please go home and rest, take this day to mourn over the best Minister we've had in centuries, and let's come back together tomorrow, to keep this place running."

At that Robards lifted his wand, and the fireplaces in the room snapped back to life and people slowly started to dribble out. Their shock, horror and upset was written all over their faces.

"We should go too," Ron said, looking around at the thinning crowds and Harry knew it was a good plan. He was too wound up to properly control his feelings. 

"I want to go to Robards first. Tell him how sorry we are. I want to see his reaction," Harry said, the words escaping his throat in a fury. 

Furrowing his brows, Ron gave him a concerned nod before he followed Harry towards the front where Robards still stood. The older wizard was still sorting through some parchment notes he had held. As soon as they were close enough Harry forced his sadness over Kingsley's loss to take over his livid anger, before he stepped out in front of Robards.

"Mr Robards, I'm so sorry for your loss, I know you were very close to Kingsley," Harry said, watching carefully as Robards' expression shifted from sad to wary and back again within a second. It was a barely noticeable change—just a flicker—but Harry had seen it, which was enough to know everything that he needed to.

"Thank you, Mr Potter," Robards replied, feigning grief. "My wife and I are truly devastated. I know you were friends too. I'm sorry for your loss and that you had to hear it that way."

"Yes, me too. Will there be an investigation? Or was the gas leak already confirmed?" Harry kept his voice flat, almost emotionless; he couldn't risk letting his true emotions shine through. 

"There was an emergency investigation yesterday. The gas explosion was confirmed and the case is closed. I understand why you of all people ask this question, Mr Potter." Robards paused then, unconsciously straightening the parchment pile with the end of his finger. "Please be assured that I myself was on the scene and I did everything I could. Go home for today, take a day off, Auror Potter. We're not doing anything today."

"Yes, sir. Would you mind dreadfully if I take the rest of the week off? This news has come as quite a shock, and Draco is sick too. The Mufflemumps. Quite a severe case."

"But of course, Mr Potter," Robards answered, the relief visible in his expression. "You've both worked a lot lately... You too, Mr Weasley. Please, take the rest of the week off and come back next Monday. We'll manage without you for now."

Nodding, Harry thanked Robards before he dragged Ron towards the Floo.

"What was that about?" Ron hissed into his ear, casting his eyes all around the Atrium in case they were being followed.

"He knows what happened, and knows that I know too," Harry huffed in reply, his words little more than a whisper. "I'll go home now but Floo to Draco afterwards, we'll meet there tonight. Tell Hermione to be careful till then, mate. We're not safe anymore."

At that Ron's ears started to burn pink, or perhaps it was just the colour blanching from his face, but thankfully he managed to get out of the Ministry before anyone bar Harry could notice.

Politely letting an older witch step in front of him to leave, Harry glanced over his shoulder for one final time. He shuddered. 

Robards was still watching him from afar, dark shadows playing over his face.

Harry managed to stay at his apartment for about five minutes before his restlessness drove him onwards. He was desperate to go to Grimmauld and tell the others everything that had happened.

Harry found the Slytherins convened in the kitchen enjoying a late breakfast. All of them stared at Harry in surprise when he disturbed their cosy round of chatting.

"Harry? Did something happen?" Greg asked, looking confused.

"Robards announced Kingsley's passing and gave everyone today off," Harry answered, knowing that he must look terribly grim. 

"And?" Pansy asked, obviously looking right through him. The witch's brown eyes were wide and worried. 

"He knows the real reason Kingsley died, and knows that I know too," Harry admitted quietly.

"Fuck. What now?" Draco asked, looking anxiously up at Harry, his grey eyes clouded.

"I took the rest of the week off," Harry answered, leaning his palms onto the rough wood of the table. "I want to go and watch Robards' house for a bit today, see if something suspicious is happening. I'll report back tonight when everyone has arrived for the meeting." 

"You're not going there alone Potter. We all know you're a reckless idiot, but that doesn't mean you get to risk everything again. I'm coming with you," Draco insisted, voice matter of fact, the wizard already gently placing down his fork, his face brooking no argument. "Someone has to make sure you come back alive."

"You can't come with me," Harry exclaimed, shaking his head. "It's not—"

"Salazar, Potter! If you even try to tell me that I can't come with you because it's _too dangerous,_ I'll personally bind you to this chair and call Hermione over. The fucking Ministry knows that you know that they're telling lies and yet that shit is too dangerous for _me_?" Draco nearly knocked his mug over as he gestured agitatedly. "I really don't know why I put up with you."

"Because you love him darling. Get dressed, we'll hold him here until you're back," Pansy snorted.

"Love him, my balls," Draco flipped Pansy off and got out of his chair, muttering darkly to himself as he left the kitchen. "Fucking annoying that one is. I'll look older than the Bloody Baron by the time a week has passed if he carries on like that."

"Make sure to come back, Potter," Blaise said while looking sternly in Harry's direction. "I don't fancy Granger having my bollocks for letting you go, and I'd prefer to not lose my oldest friend because he grew too fond of a bloody Gryffindor."

"Nice to see that the gang of you care so much about me," Harry grinned before looking at Pansy. "Where did you put my cloak last night?" he asked. "We'll need it."

"On the settee next to the fireplace," Pansy answered, her face glittering with amusement. You won't fit under it together though." 

"We'll use a Disillusionment Charm too and move slowly; it'll work out if we're quiet," Harry replied, gratified that the bunch of them cared so much. 

"As if you'd be able to be quiet, Potter. You're not as sneaky as you think you are. Just because you're invisible doesn't mean you're silent too. I heard you so many times sneaking after me like the little stalker you were." 

Turning around, Harry found Draco walking back into the kitchen, Invisibility Cloak already in hand. Harry's eyes flicked over the blond Slytherin. Even though he was worried, he was glad to have the man by his side. 

"Thankfully I know how to hide us properly, even without your cloak if necessary," Draco said, his voice carrying the smallest hint of a smirk.

"So grateful to have you, mighty Unspeakable, I'd be so lost without you," Harry said, rolling his eyes.

"You better be," Draco said, giving the assembled Slytherins a wink. "See you later guys. Let's go, Potter."

Harry followed Draco, who walked out of the house without missing another beat. Right in front of the door, Draco came to a halt and mumbled a spell that Harry had never heard before, one that made his skin prickle and shudder as it washed over him. 

Draco repeated the entire enchantment on himself. "Hidden. We can use your cloak too, if you'd prefer, but it won't be necessary."

"We're talking about Robards," Harry answered, his voice a concerned rumble, "I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't expect us to use one of your secret spells."

"Fair. Throw that cloak over us and take me to Robards' house. We have to find a good spot to watch from."

Doing as he was told, Harry took a deep breath before he Side-Alonged Draco to Robards' house. The wizard had been there several times before, to drop off or pick up some things, but he had never really paid any attention to its surroundings.

Luckily there was a group of trees and bushes opposite Robards' property where they could make themselves comfortable and wait.

It didn't take long before there was movement at the other side of the road. Draco nudged Harry's side to bring his attention to it, although it wasn't the slightest bit necessary. Harry had spotted the figures as soon as they had entered the street.

"Do you know them?" Draco whispered.

"No. Not Aurors," Harry whispered back. "Nobody I know. They don't look like people I'd like to talk with." The wizarding world was small, and Harry recognised many people from sight alone.

"Indeed. Could be some of those people we saw at Diagon Alley." 

Harry agreed. He watched as the three men walked up to Robards' door and entered without knocking. "If this is another attack and Robards ends up dead, I'll be in trouble," he whispered, squinting at the scene in front of him.

"They didn't look like they'd attack anyone, they were carrying a bag from a bakery with them," Draco scoffed.

"I need new glasses," Harry grumbled annoyed as he took them down to clean them on his sleeve. "Do you think Robards is already back from the Ministry?"

"We could go and check," Draco suggested, looking at Robards' closed front door. 

"And you say I'm reckless. Let's wait for a bit and see what happens."

Three hours and two cauldron cakes later Harry and Draco hadn't made any noteworthy progress. There was some activity at the address: a few ins and outs by scurrying people who all looked rather shady. There was not a single sign of Robards nor his wife. 

And things slowly got annoying. 

Harry was used to random stakeouts with Ron or other Aurors, and he was very used to being all crammed together in very small spots and ridiculous hiding places. But he wasn't used to doing this with Draco by his side. 

For one, Harry was anxious about the other man's presence—the last thing he wanted was for him to get injured—which was entirely ludicrous, seeing as Draco was more than capable of protecting himself. 

Secondly, every time Draco moved Harry lost his focus on the house and inevitably looked over at him. Then he'd find himself nose to nose with Draco and getting surprised every time. 

Chiding himself for being ridiculous when it happened for what felt like the fiftieth time, Harry looked back at the house and nearly jumped up when he saw Robards run out of his house but then get dragged back in by at least six people. 

"What the fuck?" he muttered, looking at Draco to see if he had a better idea of what was going on before their eyes. 

"Succinctly put, Potter. I think we should leave. We have what we need. Robards is most definitely involved, but perhaps not willingly. Granger will have our arses if we stay any later than this," Draco whispered, before he stood and dragged Harry up with him.

"But what if something else happens?" Harry asked, still staring at the house. His inner-Saviour was loath to leave when he knew that there were criminals within.

"Then we'll miss it," Draco hissed back into Harry's ear. "I think I recognised one of the people who entered, and if that's true this shit goes deeper than I ever thought. We have to go—now!—and see if Blaise has a memory of the person I think it might be in his Pensieve."

Allowing Draco to Apparate them both away, Harry was anxious for them to both reappear at Grimmauld Place. The moment their feet touched the floor Harry instantly pulled the invisible cloak away from their heads so he could get some distance between the two of them, annoyed at himself for being that bothered.

"I'll go to Ron and Hermione and tell them what we saw while you check in with Blaise. Could you lift the spell over us?" Harry asked, annoyed at how artificially bright and false his voice sounded.

"Oh right, forgot about that," Draco laughed, pulling his wand from his pocket. "I really like that one, It makes us see each other but nobody else can unless I put the spell on those too. Found it in a book at the department."

"You'll have to teach me that incantation," Harry answered, forcing himself to grin back at Draco who had already pointed his wand at him.

Choosing not to wait for Draco, Harry ran into the house and towards the Floo, greeting Blaise on his way in. 

Blaise had been having a conversation with the unpleasant old portrait of Mrs Black, and Harry decided not to wonder exactly why. Slytherins could be an odd bunch, and if Zabini fancied a chat with a nasty portrait that was his business alone. 

The only thing Harry knew was that he needed to get to Ron and Hermione before he lost his mind entirely. It was, of course, the second time in less than a week that Harry found himself colliding with their small table opposite the Floo.

"You really have to stop that, mate," Ron said, as soon as he discovered Harry who was rubbing his shin and feeling very sorry for himself.

"Just put that sodding table somewhere else," Harry replied, his tone annoyed, "but Merlin! Give me a drink before you do that."

"What happened Harry?" Hermione asked, her face a mask of worry as she joined them. "You look like you've seen a ghost."

"Why should he look any different when seeing a ghost?" Ron asked.

Harry ignored his best mate's very good question in favour of leaving the room to look for a bottle of booze to pour himself a drink.

"I think I still hate Draco," Harry said, pouring himself a generous measure. Then he poured himself another inch, just to be on the safe side. "I still hate him. Deep, deep down."

"You know that's not true. And even if it is, day drinking isn't a solution for that problem," Hermione said drily, rolling her eyes as she tried to take the bottle of Odgen's away from Harry, but he held onto it, his hands as firm as any Sticking Charm.

"No Hermione, you don't get it. We were out watching Robards' house and I—"

"You did WHAT?" Hermione snapped, her perfect eyebrows raising nearly to her hairline.

"Oh."

"Harry James Potter, you tell me this instant what exactly you did, or mark my words, I'll hex the information out of you!" she snapped.

Now she'd said that, Harry really needed that drink. 

Thank Merlin, Hermione had finally let go of the bottle. He poured himself another drink before he told his other best friend the entire story including what they had seen happening at Robards' house.

"So they just dragged him back in, and they might have been the same guys from Diagon Alley? And Draco thinks he might have recognised one of them?" Hermione recounted as soon as Harry finished his story. She looked entirely amazed by the tale.

"Yes. But whoever they were, they looked like they had been there for a while now. They had their feet under the table. They'd even got themselves something from the bakery before all of this happened."

"And how many people are there?" Ron asked, Accio'ing a whisky glass and pouring himself an inch of the amber liquid.

"Too many," Harry answered. "There were the wizards who went to and from the bakery, plus the others that dragged Robards back in and at least one other."

Watching Hermione write all of this down, Harry glanced back at the bottle of whisky. 

"Okay. That's something. But never do that again without telling us first. Stuff like that needs to be planned, and not done in a rush. You've always been the most impetuous wizard I've ever met," Hermione sighed. "And what, dare I ask, was your problem with Draco?"

"He annoyed me, Hermione! His presence was so irritating that I was barely able to concentrate on our sodding task! Every movement of his attracted my attention!" Harry huffed with sheer aggravation at the recent memory. "I'd look over just to find us nose to nose, and I _can't_ deal with that! I don't mind any of that with Ron or anyone else. How can I still hate him after all those years?"

"You're so ridiculous," Ron laughed, making a swipe for the whisky. Hermione threw him a dirty look that made him go silent instantly and place the bottle on the table with a quiet click.

"We'll figure that out, Harry." Patting his hand, Hermione snatched the whisky from the table and levitated it back to its shelf with a swift swipe of her wand. "We'll figure everything out. But you're going to need to try and ignore those feelings until we sort out what to do about the Robards situation. I know this will be hard, but we have to deal with the most important things first. People's lives are at stake."

Harry felt like she was making fun of him, but when she turned around to face them again she still looked tense and worried. Harry decided to let it slip. Hermione was right; she always was. The three of them had a world to save once again. "Of course. Let's deal with Robards first, you're right."

"Maybe it's just because you're not used to having him around for stakeouts, mate. I wouldn't worry too much about it, honestly," Ron added, giving Harry's back a chummy slap.

"Yeah, maybe. Maybe I was just worried about him or something," Harry sighed. That had to be it, surely? His brain had been running in every direction this last week. 

"Lunch is ready. Ron made enough to feed the Slytherins too. We should pack everything up and go back to Grimmauld," Hermione noted as she looked up at the clock over the door.

"Great. I'm pretty sure I saw Blaise chatting with Mrs Black when I ran into the house." Harry made a wry smile. Slytherins could be very odd indeed. "Some company won't hurt them."

Harry watched as Ron sprinted into the kitchen and came back with a huge casserole hovering in front of him, and it smelled absolutely delicious. Together they left the small house to go back to Grimmauld Place. Luckily they arrived right in time to stop Greg from prepping a quick lunch for everyone.

After everyone ate, Ron and Hermione vanished with Draco and Blaise, and Pansy excused herself for a bath. Greg began setting housekeeping spells to clean the kitchen, which left Harry all by himself. 

Taking this rare opportunity, Harry decided to take a look around the house and check all the rooms, now that it finally didn't resemble the Shrieking Shack's more haunted cousin anymore.

At first he didn't notice, and had to walk back, but the first massive change he recognised was Mrs Black's missing portrait. The silence was more golden than a Vault full of Galleons. Marvelling at the empty spot, Harry suddenly realised that Blaise must have charmed her while removing the Permanent Sticking Charm from the back of her frame. Deciding to get him the most expensive bottle of whisky, Harry moved on to the next set of rooms.

It really did look fantastic. All the years of neglect, sadness and Dark magic were gone, vanished like an enchantment. All that negativity had been replaced by the same hopeful feelings and sometimes questionable interior design ideas Hogwarts had. This was a place Harry believed he could really consider moving into one day. This could become the real home that he'd craved since he was a small boy locked in a cupboard under the stairs. 

The biggest surprise waited for him in the room that contained the Black family tree tapestry.

The elves had restored it, restored every person that Mrs Black had burned from it. It had become an item of rare beauty. All those people that had been deemed an affront to pure-blood traditions were back on there. 

Touching Sirius' name with the tip of his finger, Harry silently thanked his godfather for leaving him his old home. He desperately wished Sirius could have been here to see how much the place had changed, how much everyone had changed. 

Harry spotted Draco's name not far from Sirius' own, and Harry wondered if he'd approve of the Slytherins being here, finding sanctuary there and helping them. It probably would have taken Sirius a little while before he'd have trusted them. But Harry was sure he would have warmed up to them eventually. He'd been a man of great empathy, with an uncommonly open mind. 

Sighing, Harry turned to leave the room but he stopped dead in his tracks when he spotted Draco leaning against the door, watching him.

"I didn't want to disturb you. Or scare you off again."

"You didn't scare me off. I was just a bit overwhelmed, that's all," Harry said quietly. He cast his eyes over Sirius' name a final time. "Sorry for running away earlier."

Draco walked up to Harry and looked at the spot he had been touching before. "Sirius. He was your godfather, right? He was the one who left you the house."

"Yeah. He ran away from home and moved in with my father while they were at Hogwarts together. They were very close."

"I'm sorry you lost him," Draco said, his voice quiet and thoughtful. Harry watched as the blond man ghosted his own finger over the name. "I'm sorry you lost all of them all. I hope we can end whatever this is before we lose so many people again."

"Yeah, me too. Thank you Draco. I—I really need a nap. I slept like shit last night, and I'm so done with today." 

Harry hadn't noticed how tired he was until now, when he felt his body crashing with exhaustion. Wave after wave of mixed emotions swirled through him. It was as if he'd been running on air. Harry had entirely forgotten about his lack of sleep after everything that had happened since this morning.

"You can take my bed," Draco said, straight away, his grey eyes shiny and honest. "I'll stay with you if you want. I have to write a letter to my Mother anyway, it's been a while." 

"Yeah. I think I'd like that," Harry admitted quietly. "Thank you."

Harry was asleep before his head hit Draco's pillow.

When he woke up again, the room looked dark, too dark for it to still be the day time. He had been asleep far longer than just a quick nap. 

Looking around, Harry found Draco still sitting at his desk, nose buried in a huge book only lit by a small candle. 

Stretching his arms, Harry sat up and let out a huge yawn. "How long was I asleep for?"

"Long enough for the others to arrive. Most of the Order are here. Don't worry though, you've not been asleep long enough to miss anything. I put some dinner aside for you in case you're hungry," Draco said, without once looking up from his book.

"Thank you, Draco."

"You're welcome, Potter. Wake yourself up properly, then we can go downstairs and meet the others. Hermione sent Neville and Blaise on another stakeout to take pictures and they're also back now."

At that piece of news Harry's head snapped up. He stared at the back of Draco's head, upset that events had happened beyond his control. He was already opening his mouth to protest when he got interrupted by Draco.

"No need to freak out," Draco huffed, finally turning around and looking at Harry. "Nothing else has happened, and not everything is your job! You had to rest, and I made sure you did so." He shook his head. "You won't be able to focus on anything while you're tired, so then you won't be of any use for this mission. And neither will I be if I have to worry if you're staying alive or not."

Grumbling, Harry got up. He was reluctant to admit that Draco was right, though he knew he was. That had always been one of his greatest flaws, not looking after himself properly. He waited for Draco to put his book away so that the two of them could go to the big sitting room together, where Harry could already hear some hushed voices whispering with each other.

The second they entered the room, everyone fell silent for a moment before returning to whatever conversation they were having before. There were less people sitting around their table than yesterday, but still half of their former Dumbledore's Army. Harry knew that he couldn't expect everyone to show up all the time. Dean and Seamus had adopted a kid recently, which would make it hard for them to arrive for their meetings. Minerva was at Hogwarts. Arthur was probably at home with Molly. Ginny was out with the Harpies, they'd have a game that weekend. 

Casting his eyes around the table, Harry suddenly realised that everyone had somehow grown up, matured into their role as adults. They'd all done something with their lives. Somehow the months had slipped into years. They all had happy, full existences, while the only thing he did was work. Looking to his side, Harry smiled a bit. At least he had Draco to come home to. 

Sitting down in the same spot as the previous night, Harry waited for Hermione to open the meeting. But, before she could do so, George burst through the door, panting and heavily out of breath. The wizard sank down into a chair. "News. I have..." he said gasping for air, "news. Heard something just as I wanted to close the shop."

Suddenly all eyes were on George while he tried to catch his breath. "There were guys behind my shop. Wanted to take the rubbish to the bins, so I eavesdropped on them. Don't think they noticed me. At first I didn't notice them either, but then I heard Robards' name and, well… that got my attention."

"Spit it out already!" Ron bluffed. "I'll be as old as dad once you finish the story if you carry on like that!"

Rolling his eyes, George flipped his younger brother off before looking at the rest of them. "Robards is getting paid, he's involved in all of this. But he's not happy, and somehow he's acting up which amused these guys a lot. There's some dimwitted prat that calls himself _'The Servant'_ and he's obviously leading this party because they've been waiting for new orders from him."

"Blaise has a Pensieve, would you mind sharing this memory with us?" Hermione asked, already sitting at the edge of her chair. Her body language was keen and excited, and Harry could see she was in her element. She'd be a great leader one of these days. 

"Don't mind at all, maybe you'll see something I missed," George agreed, clutching the edge of the table in his upset. "If you get me that damn thing I'll drop that memory right now. The sooner anyone can confirm that I'm not crazy then the better I'll feel."

"Blaise would you mind?"

Giving Hermione a short nod, Blaise vanished from the room. The wizard returned a few minutes later, carrying a pompous Pensieve made out of silver with tiny gold threads and spiked with odd-looking jewels. It was obviously an item of very powerful old magic that looked like it was carrying memories in its very metal.

Wondering if Pensieves like this one, and the one in Dumbledore's office long ago, were purposefully built to attract attention, Harry watched as George dropped his memory into it. Hermione bent low over the small bowl and viewed everything that had happened.

"You're very far from crazy," Hermione said as she sat up, "and one of these creeps looks like one of our friends from Robards' house. Draco, would you mind?"

Draco repeated Hermione's actions and shortly afterwards confirmed that one of them was indeed the chap they'd seen at Robards' house earlier.

"So," Greg started, "if that's the guy from Robards' house, that means he knows what he's talking about." He shook his head, clearly furious. "Which also means that we're once again with a corrupt Minister, even though he tried to get out of there today."

"Correct," Neville piped in. He was wearing a thick woollen shirt, and he rolled the sleeves back, unconsciously getting ready for action. "I wonder what made him snap and decide to get out. We know actual murder didn't stop him."

"What's his weakness?" Pansy asked. "Mother always used to say that everyone has one. Does anyone here know what Robards' Achilles' heel is?"

"His wife," Ron and Harry said in unison. 

"He'd do anything for her," Ron added.

"So, she probably also knows what's up," Pansy said, staring at the two of them. "Do you think we could somehow get her? She'll talk with Veritaserum, no matter how much she loves him. And if she resists then we can show them what we learned last time evil forces tried to seize hold of our world. I haven't forgotten them. I know that none of you have either!"

"That's a bit drastic, don't you think?" Hermione asked, looking with concern at the other witch. "We should try less invasive things first and keep illegal drugs, potions, and the use of force as the very last option!"

"Aren't you Gryffindors supposed to run head first into danger?" Pansy asked with a snort.

"Hermione doesn't count. The Ravenclaw is strong in her. Potter on the other hand…" Draco threw him a dirty grin. "Picture-perfect Gryffindor."

"I'm not sure whether you're insulting me or whether you think that's a good thing," Harry huffed, grinning back at him before he turned his attention back to Hermione. "Plans never work Hermione, we should get stuck into the action before even more things happen."

"We don't even have Veritaserum!" Hermione shot back, her eyes flashing with annoyance. We have nothing, not even what we'd need to make Truth Serum, or any other potion. While I'm sure Draco would be able to make them all, the fact that we have nothing doesn't help us."

"Actually," Ron started before he looked at Harry. "Remember my new best friend? Mrs Millen?"

The grins that spread over both their faces were probably a terrifying thing for the others to see for there was suddenly an eerie silence, and several sets of confused faces looking in their direction. 

"What… exactly are you two talking about?" Hermione asked, her confident voice suddenly unsure.

"We know where to get any potion we might need. Write us a list and we'll get them. Ingredients too! We'll take Neville or Malfoy; they can advise us about those as well," Ron said, sounding just as excited as Harry felt.

"We should get our uniforms, just in case—" Harry's words broke off abruptly as an owl crashed against the window pane outside. 

Staring at it, Harry recognised it as a Ministry owl. An owl that shouldn't be able to find them here, but somehow still had. His pulse picked up, and his heart felt like it was about to race out of his chest. Whatever this was, it didn't feel like good news. Looking at the others, Harry slowly stood up to go and open the window.

The owl hopped right onto the table and dropped a small piece of parchment onto Harry's now vacant spot. 

"That one looks old, older than Errol. Maybe old owls aren't that affected by all the spells we have in place?" Hermione mused, drawing the eyes of the table onto her.

Harry unfolded the note slowly while someone threw some snacks at the owl. It was an exhausted creature which didn't look like it'd do anything except lie on the table for the foreseeable future.

_They're coming for him and you. Tonight. M._

Looking up, Harry stared at Draco and dropped the note onto the table.

"They're coming for you," Harry said, his voice flat with appalled shock. Whatever we left in our flat is gone for now." Turning to Ron and Hermione, Harry only needed to send them one look and his two best friends understood. Jumping up, they both ran for the Floo to get what they needed from their house before the Aurors, or whoever Robards sent for them, inevitably arrived.

"Who was that letter from?" Blaise asked.

"A friend in the Ministry. I asked them to tell me if anyone asks for Draco's case files," Harry sighed as he sunk back into his chair. He was horrified that it'd gotten so serious so fast. "I guess we'll be staying here with you for a while." 

"I'll go and tell Mum and Dad, they have to be prepared if the Ministry comes to arrest them too. If they don't find you at home it'll be only a matter of time," George said, looking worried at the rapid turn of events. 

"Yeah, tell them they can always come here if they need a place to stay," Harry replied. 

Nodding, George got up and left the room. 

"Will you keep us updated, Harry? If they're after you too, then all of us need to be prepared to leave our homes, and I don't know about you, but I'd rather start right away. And maybe stop at the homes of a few other friends and tell them what's going to happen so they can get ready," Neville said, his voice resolute while looking at all the other worried faces in the room.

"Sure Nev, that's probably a good idea. You all know where to find us if anything happens."

At that everyone else slowly shuffled out of the room. There was nothing else to say. Harry had the feeling that Grimmauld would soon be not big enough anymore. It was their oasis in a wizarding world that seemed increasingly intimidating and frightening.

They had to stop this. As soon as possible. And there was only one thing they could do about this right now.

Get into Robards' house.


	6. Chapter 6

"This lady is crazy," Draco exclaimed once Ron had opened the door to Mrs Millen's house. 

"She's amazing," Ron laughed, swatting away a few tentacles reaching for him.

"I think I'm in love with her. Do you think she'll adopt me? Draco Millen? I could keep the towels with my initials. This house is amazing. You should bring Longbottom here, he'd faint and wet his pants."

Rolling his eyes, Harry followed the two effervescent dorks into the backroom where Ron got to work looking for the hidden store of potions.

"How long has she been gone now?" Draco asked, inspecting the unfinished potions still waiting in their cauldrons.

"A few days now, why?" Harry asked.

"Because this one here started to go fetid," Draco explained. "Boiled caterpillar bodies and Mandrake root? It'll leak deathly gases if it's not cleaned soon."

"Not saying I know her," Ron huffed as he cast a _Revelio_ and stuck his entire arm into a hole in the wall that hadn't been there moments before, "but I think that's on purpose. We should leave it the way it is, she'll know once she comes back."

"Possible," Draco agreed, sounding very impressed with the older witch. She had displayed a very Slytherin level of cunning. "I'll water her plants and see which ingredients I can find here."

"I'll come with you," Harry said, but Draco only looked at him with one of his brows pulled up. He quirked a smile in Harry's direction.

"I can handle a few plants myself, Potter. If you come with me I'll have to babysit you and make sure they don't eat you. Stay here, I'll come back, and if something happens, I'll scream."

Ron's triumphant "Aha!" distracted Harry for a second, and when he turned back to argue with Draco, the wizard had already slipped out of the room.

"Harry look! I found it!"

Giving up on Draco's stubborn, aggravating actions, Harry sighed and turned back to Ron. He was shocked to find the wall with the hole gone and replaced by a small path with stairs that led downwards into some kind of basement.

"Bubble-Head Charm," Harry said immediately, thinking back with alarm to the cauldrons in the previous room here. "Then we can go downstairs and find the hidden treasure."

Agreeing, Ron waited for Harry to place the charm on himself before he did so too. Then they were ready to make their way down the staircase and go and investigate. 

Every third or fourth step Harry took, he had to turn around to look back up, waiting for Draco's silhouette to appear in the half-light that shone down on them from the entry, but Draco didn't turn up.

"Mate, stop worrying about him and focus on the job in hand," Ron hissed, nearly losing his footing himself. "If you slip we'll both be done."

"I'm not worrying about him, just checking that he's following us," Harry muttered in reply.

"Sure. I think I see a door down there."

By the time they reached the end of the staircase, the entry of the brewing room was a small dot in the distance. The air around them was icy cold, and Harry was sure that if he removed his Bubble-Head Charm, he'd see his breath leave his mouth in tiny puffs of cloud.

"Consistent temperature, password locked door, she really thought of everything, didn't she?" Ron gushed, his big blue eyes taking in every detail. "Just amazing."

"I'll tell Hermione that you're thinking of replacing her if you don't stop flailing," Harry laughed, and instantly got rewarded for his cheek with a Stinging Hex to his foot. He watched as Ron turned back and tapped his wand against the heavy door, mumbled something that Harry couldn't make out.

The door roared to life as lock after lock snapped open and heavy chains rattled on the inside of the room. Green sparkles of magic twinkled and flared across the old cracked wood.

Looking over his shoulder, Ron threw Harry an excited grin before he reached out to turn the handle. 

Pushing the door open, it scraped over the uneven tiled floor, and inside dozens of candles lit up one after the other, showing row after row of shelves filled with dusty bottles and glowing vials.

Gawking, Harry tried to make out how many potions were actually hidden away in this room, but he simply couldn't tell. It seemed like an endless stash.

"Snape would faint at this," Ron giggled, overawed at the sight. "This must be a wet dream for every potioneer. Let's check against what we'll need and get moving."

Entering the room, Harry started to look through the perfectly labelled potions searching for Veritaserum and Polyjuice. Finding a bottle of Amortentia, Harry huffed out a laugh and removed his Bubble-Head Charm, then opened the lid to smell it. It was still heavy on the broom polish, but now other scents had mixed into his former ones. 

Harry knew them but couldn't put his finger on what they were. He felt like the answer was on the tip of his tongue. It left him all cosy and warm, so perhaps wasn't a good thing right now, he decided. He needed to keep his wits about him. 

Closing the bottle again, Harry put it back into the shelf before he walked over to the next one.

"Got the Polyjuice!" Ron called from the other side of the room. "I'll also take some that only carry the healing label and hopefully Draco can tell us a few more details about what they are."

Ten minutes later, Harry finally found the Veritaserum. Taking four vials, he walked over to Ron who was staring mesmerised at a few bottles containing glowing red and blue potions. 

"We have everything we need, we should go now," Harry said, stepping behind Ron who yelped in surprise and almost jumped out of his skin.

"Yes, let's go," Ron said immediately. He shrank down what he needed with a quick swish of his wand. "I left a note for her next to the door telling her I was here and that we've taken what we needed—exactly as she predicted we would—and thanked her. We really have to get her out of that holding cell once this is done. A big bunch of flowers might not go amiss either."

Humming in agreement, Harry led their way back out of the potions room, and waited for Ron to lock the door again before the two of them marched upstairs, leaving the frigid cold behind.

"There you both are," Draco said as soon as they left the passage. "I thought you two idiots had died down there, sniffing a few too many potions or something."

"Why didn't you come downstairs?" Harry asked, feeling puzzled, the same second Ron barked a "We didn't _sniff_ any potions, you brat."

"There's a blockage, keeping me from entering the staircase. Probably still there from the last war," Draco said as he shook his left arm lightly. "And of course you didn't, Weasley."

Rolling his eyes, Ron hid the passage again, making enough noise to distract Draco's attention away from Harry's guilty expression caused by the potions sniffing comment.

"So did you find anything?" Ron asked Draco as soon as the room had been magicked to look like it had before.

"Dittany, always comes in handy. And a few other things I can use. I also stole a cauldron and other things that we'll need. But I'll replace those when we're done. Or repay her if she'll let me," Draco said, inspecting his nails.

Locking the house again, the three Apparated back to Grimmauld Place. As soon as they opened the door they were smacked into the face by a cacophony of sound and busy, scurrying people bustling around the house.

"What the actual fuck is going on here?" Ron asked, open mouthed as people rushed past them and scarcely looked in their direction.

"Language, Ronald!" Mrs Weasley's voice came from somewhere upstairs.

"Mum?" Ron's face displayed pure horror, but then it switched to confusion as soon as Hermione ran up to them.

"Thank Godric, you're back. You have to see something," Hermione said, her whole body alive with nervous energy. She quickly dragged them towards the kitchen where a large paper was spread out over the table.

Harry's picture captured an entire page, and the headline only said 'Wanted' in big bold letters.

"Oh come on, not this again," Harry groaned as he flopped down into a chair. He was livid with fury. He'd laid down his life for the wizarding world and this was how they repaid him? "What did I do this time?"

Before Hermione could read the article out loud, Draco had snatched the _Prophet_ from the table and started skimming through the page. "Wanted for the possible murder of Minister for Magic Kingsley Shacklebolt," he read aloud in a mocking, sing-song voice. "Obviously you really want to become Head Auror. If you had asked me before going on a murder spree I'd have suggested to off Robards and not Kingsley, but Harry Potter always goes the extra mile I guess."

That actually made Harry snort, and he grinned at Draco, thankful that he didn't treat this like the drama it absolutely was. 

"I'll quit my job. Ask McGonagall to hire me. I'd be Hagrid's assistant, anything but going back to that place. I quit. I'm done."

"I'll hire you as my new Defence Professor, Mr Potter. But first we need to solve this problem." 

Turning his head so quick that something in his neck almost snapped, Harry gawked at Headmistress McGonagall. "You're here too?" he uttered, the only thing he could think of to say.

"Yes, Mr Potter. I'm here too. It was my turn to watch the Robards estate. I'm back reporting that absolutely _nothing_ happened all morning. Not even a bakery run this time. Only a few youngsters who like to pet cats."

"Did you let them?" Ron asked grinning, but the wizard swallowed quickly as McGonagall sent him a death glare. If looks could kill, Ron would have been six feet underground. 

"Thanks Minerva," Hermione piped up before any hexes could be thrown. "We'll send you a note about our next steps once we figure them out."

"You're welcome, Mrs Granger." McGonagall turned to leave but decided otherwise in the last second to glare in the direction of Draco. "Horace is retiring, just so you know." 

And then she was gone.

"Did she just—?" Draco asked, learning back in his chair. He sounded entirely stunned.

"I think she did," Harry huffed.

"Back to topic. What's going on here, Hermione?" Ron asked furrowing his brows and looking concerned.

"Your parents and a lot of other people read the headlines and decided to move into Grimmauld before it's too late. We're now short on bedrooms, and I fear we have to make some new rooming assignments. Blaise moved in with Greg, Luna with Pansy. Dean and Seamus arrived with their daughter, your parents got our bedroom, Ron. We'll take the sofas for now. Harry you can either move in with Draco or stay with us in one of the living rooms." She broke off her speech, no doubt struggling to remember every detail. "Neville offered to take in others who might come here when there's no room left. His gran obviously made a second Hogwarts out of her home, but she forgot to include him in the wards at first, the poor guy couldn't find his own home anymore."

"Potter will stay with me, all his stuff is in my room anyway and I'd prefer him over whoever shows up next and needs a bed. We've already got the things we need, so this will hopefully be a very temporary solution for everyone," Draco said, already pulling the shrunken cauldron out of his robes. "I don't mind managing Potter. Better the devil you know, and all that."

"Okay, perfect. We have another team at Robards' house. I know you want to get going right away but we have to watch him at least for today. I really believe it's better t get a picture of what's going on before we go in." o

Pulling a piece of parchment out of the pocket of her trousers Hermione studied it for a minute, raising an eyebrow. "You can take one of the night shifts. Dean and Neville will take over at midnight. It's supposed to rain so dress accordingly. Remember your Umbrella Charms, people."

Not waiting for an answer, Hermione turned and left the room, already pulling another piece of parchment out of another pocket. Harry marvelled at her organisation and, not for the first time, wondered why she hadn't been sorted Ravenclaw. 

"You realise your girlfriend is a menace, right?" Draco asked Ron, his voice unamused.

"I knew what I signed up for." Ron shrugged. "I wonder how many people believe what the papers say. I reckon it's rather old news at this point. This trick is so old it has cobwebs on it. I don't think it'll work again."

"Me neither, but it's the Ministry, they don't change," Harry sighed, his shoulders shrugging with barely concealed annoyance. "If it worked before then they'll stick with it. You can't teach an old Crup new tricks. And it's a good way to bring attention to me again. Slander me, and make people disbelieve my story. No matter whether they believe it, people will tell their friends they saw me, others will take pictures, it's the perfect way for the Ministry to keep an eye on me without having to do a single thing. And an even better way to make sure I don't get in their way, considering I can't show my face any ruddy place."

"Sounds about right. I bet everyone involved with you—your colleagues, your acquaintances and your friends—will be watched or arrested soon," Draco said while he skimmed through the other pages of the _Prophet_. "Oh look, now this is interesting. There's a tiny article about the missing Muggles. Granger told us about that right? It's barely a footnote here."

"We'll go into Robards' house tomorrow," Harry said, taking the newspaper back from Draco and throwing it back onto the table, "no matter what Hermione says. This needs to end. Where will we keep the potions we got? I don't want anyone to get their hands on them."

"We can put them in our wardrobe. Nobody would dare to meddle with my clothes. They all know I'd kill them," Draco huffed, looking at Harry like he might dare to pinch his Versace trousers.

"You're not that scary, you know?" Harry laughed in return. "But fine. Let's put them there. I want to get into my joggers anyway."

Racing upstairs, Harry got held up at nearly every door for a chat and his friends telling him how great it was that they could stay at Grimmauld for a while, and Harry couldn't help but feel as if he'd burst with the joy of having all them here. Part of him felt like he was back at Hogwarts, surrounded by all the people he loved and cared about. 

Indeed, Harry nearly ran into Mrs Weasley who couldn't see him due to balancing two huge bags on top of each other in front of her face, but as soon as she noticed him she just smiled and told him about all the hungry people that needed to be fed. She informed him that she'd be in the kitchen if anyone was looking for her, before she walked off with a look of excited glee on her face. Harry couldn't help but feel grateful.

Grinning, Harry walked to Draco's room and his face fell as he realised what had happened downstairs. 

It wasn't only Draco's room now but his own too. Then, of course, a new anxiety rolled through him. He didn't know where he stood with Draco, and that didn't help at all. At least the bed was huge, so space wouldn't be a problem, and after their stakeout tonight he'd be too tired to deal with anything anyway. 

If he didn't panic again, that was. It was a very distinct possibility.

Already worried, Harry got into his joggers and stored the potions in their closet before throwing himself onto the bed and having a very grown-up sulk about how complicated everything was again and how stupidly difficult feelings were. 

He wallowed in his grumpy mood until Molly called everyone for lunch. And afterwards he decided he'd try and nap, or rather hide from everyone, until it was their turn to go and watch Robards' house. 

Hours later, Harry had come to a stark realisation. This wouldn't be as easy, or as straightforward as he had imagined. Draco had spent the last three hours snoring next to him in bed, a small smile playing around the edges of his lips, while Harry had tried to sleep too. He had failed spectacularly because Harry was everything but tired. 

And now they were once again hidden in the bushes opposite Robards' house, freezing due to the cold rain that somehow still managed to get through their jackets and trickle down their collars despite the _Impervius_ , and positively bored to death. 

The only things happening were the lights in the house switching on and off. This carried on until at 10pm when everything went dark and there was no further movement at all. 

"I wish we could go in there now. They're sleeping, so easy targets. We'd be in and out in less than 10 minutes," Draco huffed, annoyed, after checking the time with a hurried _Tempus_ for what felt like the fiftieth time since they had arrived. 

"And then they'd barricade the entire wizarding world," Harry hissed back, angrily cleaning his glasses for the tenth time, "and we'd have no time to act on what we learned. Bad idea, Malfoy."

"Not if we remove their memories of us," Draco mused, as he shivered and pulled his jacket closer around his skinny frame.

Looking over at Draco, Harry furrowed his brows. "How was it, to be on the other side of this?" He frowned. He wasn't making himself very clear. "I mean. Did Voldemort or your father expect us to come barging in? I never asked before."

Draco let out a long sigh as he plucked a leaf from the bush in front of him, staying silent for a while while, taking it apart. 

"It was frightening," he said eventually, throwing the remains of the leaf onto the floor. "I was expecting your lot to come, hoping for it even. Everyday was an exercise in fear. But it didn't happen, Harry. The Dark Lord only feared Dumbledore, but not enough to be worried that he might just come knocking on our door. Father—well, he'd lost half his marbles by then. He was jumping between knowing that nothing would ever happen to him since nobody would dare to come over… and then he'd be broken in terror, fearing that even we were after him." Draco sighed and looked very sad. "I'm glad to not be on that side again. I know this much: I wouldn't get through it again. I wouldn't survive. To be fair, your side might look safer, but it really isn't. So"—Draco shrugged, his small confession drawing to a halt—"we'll see. Was it like this the last time too? For you and the others, I mean."

"I don't really know what the others did," Harry sighed, trying to not look at Draco's tired face. It brought emotions to the fore that now wasn't the time to deal with. "When I first heard of the Order, I was too young to join. Once we were seventeen we all went on the run. We heard nothing of the Order or what anyone was doing. Those days were hard… Exhausting. We had very little to eat and very little sleep. We saw other people for the first time in months when we were brought to the Manor. There were some stakeouts, some planning. Hermione—well, you know her, Draco—she just loves a good plan. But they usually failed… We barely got away every time we did something other than hide and plot. We couldn't do much, and I felt helpless and useless most of the time." A dozen memories flitted through his head; the smell of canvas, the stench of the Snatchers, and the ache of fear that had been his constant companion. "I didn't feel like we were acting quick enough, it felt like we were failing everyone. So this time I want to be quicker, end this before it gets worse. But this time everything is happening quicker than last time. Voldemort was plotting in the dark, and he didn't act as fast as this one does. Whoever they are, I'm not sure if they're just angry, or impatient, or want to prove something." Harry sighed once more. "And that's what makes this scary. Because it could get a lot worse in a very short span of time."

Humming, Draco plucked another leaf and fiddled with it, grey eyes focused on the house in front of them. 

"I want this to end too. But we can't risk everything, because when we're gone, who'll take over then? I know that won't stop you, I know you, Harry. Known you since we were both eleven. Please—try not to die this time, yes?"

"I don't think I'll get a third chance so I'll try my very best to stay alive," Harry chuckled lightly, wanting the look of anxiety to leave Draco's face. "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

"Yeah, we will. And then we'll go to Hogwarts and just stay in that damn castle and beat McGonagall's backside in Quidditch whenever there's nobody watching."

Grinning at Draco, who sent him a reluctant smile in return, Harry pictured them all together on the Quidditch pitch with nothing to worry about and his heart missed a beat. He'd love that, he knew he would. He'd love it a lot. Hogwarts was his home and would be forever.

Maybe they could really do that. It felt like a dream but his whole existence was proof that dreams could come true. "Will you come with me to Hogwarts?"

"If they'll have me I'll come with you. I don't need an empty apartment all to myself," Draco answered. 

Heart beating faster, Harry grinned even wider as he looked back at Robards' house. There was still no light, no movement and nothing happening. He was probably sound asleep while they were freezing and wet and waiting for the others to finally take over.

When Dean and Neville finally showed up, Harry couldn't stop the yawn that he'd been trying to hold back for the last hour or so breaking free. He knew that he'd be grateful to finally get out of his wet clothes and into a warm bed soon.

Apparating back to Grimmauld Place, he and Draco dragged themselves upstairs as quickly and as quietly as possible, trying to not wake anyone. Once in their room, Harry instantly started to shed his wet clothes and rummage through the wardrobe to find the jumper that Molly had made for him and that he knew Draco had brought along, but it was nowhere to be found.

Furrowing his brow, Harry turned to ask Draco what happened with it, just to find him standing at the bed with a shit-eating grin on his face.

The utter bugger was wearing Harry's jumper.

"You were too slow, Potter. I got to it first," Draco smirked.

Gasping, Harry tried to take in that betrayal, but at the same time lost it at how, for want of a better word, _cute_ Draco looked in this oversized jumper, while his tousled wet hair stuck up in all directions from where he had hurriedly slipped out of his clothes to get into the jumper before Harry could notice his slippy, sly Slytherin trick.

"I feel betrayed, and you look ridiculously soft and squishy in my oversized stuff," Harry giggled, which only made Draco pout. That wasn't good for the Nargles filling Harry's belly. Pouts only added to the general cuteness, which didn't help the general aesthetic at all. 

"I'm not soft and _squishy_ , Potter."

"Of course not," Harry giggled, unable to tear his eyes away. "But I'm cold, and you stole my jumper. So I'm allowed to say whatever I please."

Rolling his eyes, Draco padded his bare feet out of the room which didn't help at all to calm Harry's rapidly approaching laughing fit. It was the easiest and happiest that Harry had felt all day. Harry finally lost it, dissolving into small chuckles when Draco came running back into the room and told him that Molly was awake and saw him in Harry's jumper. Apparently the witch had immediately promised to make him his own.

That was it! Toppling over, Harry burst out into breath-taking, side-splitting laughter. He couldn't wait for Draco to finally have his very own Weasley jumper and tell everyone how it came to be. 

Once he calmed down, Harry dragged himself off the bed and across to the bathroom to charm his teeth clean, fighting a losing battle against the hiccups that he'd gotten from laughing too hard at Draco's misery.

When he came back to their room, Draco was already in bed, glaring darkly at him, which only made him laugh once again.

Slipping into the huge bed, Harry placed his glasses on the bedside table, and yawned. This bed was so far beyond comfortable that it was ridiculous, and due to not sleeping a wink earlier, Harry fell asleep within seconds. He was finally dry and feeling cosy and warm.


	7. Chapter 7

Waking up, Harry found himself confused and way too warm. 

Blinking against the light streaming through the blinds and shining on the bed, Harry glanced to his left and froze. His heart skipped a beat. 

Draco was snuggled up to him, radiating heat like he was made of Fiendfyre, and snoring ever so slightly. And the worst thing was that he couldn't even blame Draco for invading his space, since they'd obviously met each other in the middle of the bed whilst sound asleep. 

Harry's head started to spin as he thought back about his earlier panic about not understanding how he felt about Draco.

Now that Draco once again was right next to him, once again in full-body contact, and still wearing Harry's jumper, he instantly panicked again. He surely didn't hate Draco. Not if the view of him, all soft and sleeping, made his heart beat faster and the nerves spiralling through his tummy instantly return.

Feeling overwhelmed, Harry carefully moved away and left the room, running downstairs to get a cup of tea to calm his nerves. It was a tried and tested method. He'd think clearer once he had a mug in his hand.

All this was a mess, and he didn't know what to think anymore. Draco was his friend, and he had been for years. Harry supposed it was normal to get confused sometimes. Extreme situations brought up extreme reactions, and as Hermione and Ron said yesterday, they had bigger problems to worry about right now.

He found some people roaming the kitchen already and, thank Merlin, someone had boiled some water already so his tea was prepared in no time. Harry sat down grimly and stared at the steaming mug.

"Rough night?" Seamus asked from behind, carrying a rather unhappy looking baby Annie in his arms.

"Want me to hold her while you make up her bottle?" Harry asked, concerned about the logistics his friend would need.

"Sure." Without a second thought, Seamus put Annie in his arms before he turned to prepare her bottle. "She had a rough night too, it can't be teeth just yet so maybe she's having a growth spurt. Or not used to sleeping somewhere other than home. But we'll survive."

Staring down into huge blue eyes, Harry played with her curly blond locks which seemed to distract the tiny girl from her crying for the moment.

Realising that this was the first time he ever held her, Harry smiled down at the little girl. How exciting and exhausting the world must be to someone so small.

"Want to feed her too? I could really use a break, and Dean is still asleep," Seamus said before he yawned widely into his palm.

"Sure," Harry shrugged and reached for the bottle Seamus held out. This was exactly the calming activity he had needed and it took his mind off the blond conundrum asleep upstairs.

The kitchen gradually filled with bustle, but Harry was too distracted watching the sleepy little girl in his arms drink. When she fell asleep mid suckle, Harry put the bottle onto the table before swiping some drool from the corner of her mouth with his thumb. Then, Harry finally looked up. He found Draco staring at him with a soft smile on his face. 

Deciding to return the smile, Harry reached for his by now rather cold cup of tea and took a sip.

"Harry, will you lead the mission with Ron?" Hermione suddenly asked, disturbing this small moment he had been sharing with Draco.

"Yes," he agreed, knowing that it was finally time. "Is anyone else coming with us?"

"I thought about Blaise, he'll be helpful with his experience in Curse-Breaking," Hermione said, running her forefinger down a neatly quilled list of names. "And Draco, he'll be responsible for keeping us all hidden until it's time to show our faces. I'll come too. And we have a backup at the hiding spot in case there are more people than we know about." Hermione skimmed through a couple of dozen sheets of paper, probably all the notes she had taken about the house. "The plan is to interrogate Robards or his wife at their home. In the best case scenario they're both there. If that doesn't work out, you'll take whichever we can get and take them to Grimmauld and I'll erase their memory once we've gotten what we want. If everything works out then we won't have to carry out the next step right afterwards. If things go wrong, we'll improvise and see what we have to do next. I'd say we leave in an hour."

"Improvise sounds good," Harry said grinning at her. Now that they had a plan of action and it was time to get moving, he was feeling better. "Can't be worse than planning, right?"

Throwing him a dirty glare, Hermione gathered her notes. She left the room, telling Draco to let Blaise know that they'd leave in an hour.

Handing Annie back to Seamus, Harry went upstairs to get dressed and get the potions from their wardrobe. Sweet, nervous, excitement thrummed through him but he couldn't help but feel worried that now was the time they were finally going to do something. 

An hour later, all of them were standing in front of Robards' gate, hidden from spying eyes thanks to Draco's clever magic. Blaise was the first one to get active, dismantling all the charms with obscure enchantments and spells that secured the property whilst simultaneously searching for curses and hexes that could have been put in place against intruders.

"Should be safe now," Blaise said with a pleased grin after a couple of minutes had passed.

Harry looked at Ron, who gave him a quick nod. Then the red-headed Auror cast a shield big enough to protect them all. Harry pulled his wand and aimed it at the house. "Let's move, slowly," he said. "They can't see us, but that doesn't mean that they won't know we're here. There might be ancient wards we've no idea about. Stay behind Ron and I as long as possible."

Harry pushed the gate open, and slowly they walked up to the house. Making the decision to not go in straight away, Harry and Ron led the others around the house while spying into every window they passed, counting the people they could see inside.

"There's four down here, no idea how many people are on the other floors. Stun, not kill, quiet and fast," Harry instructed the others, allowing the Auror training that had defined his life for so long to come through his personality and take over. He couldn't risk getting nervous here, not with so many things—and so many people—they could lose.

Ron led the group to a small side entry point they had discovered. They let Blaise do his work once more before they all cautiously entered the house, looking around in every nook and cranny.

They moved as Harry had told them, quick and silent, taking out the people they had seen from the window, with swift, powerful spells. Harry let out a relieved breath only once they had knocked out the last one without them alarming anyone else. 

"Draco, can you hide them with the same spell you hid us with? I don't care if someone trips over them as long as they don't see them first," Harry whispered, standing close to the blond-haired man.

"No. If they wake up they'll be able to see us," Draco said, working his lip and looking at the crumpled bodies of the Stunned wizards and witches. "I want to keep us hidden as long as possible."

"Okay, I'll just use a _Disillusionment Charm_ on them; that should work too," Harry answered, quickly swiping his wand over the perpetrators. A sparkle of magic, and they immediately vanished.

That done, and at least partially satisfied, Harry and Ron led the others upstairs.

Pushing the first door open, Harry found a sleeping person on a sofa and Stupefied them before they woke up and discovered them. 

Moving from room to room, Harry and the rest of his supporters made sure to not miss anyone. By the time they had finished they had found twelve people, most of whom had still been asleep even though it was nearly noon at this point. But the bad news was staring them in the face: they hadn't found Robards, nor his wife yet. 

"Old houses like this one often have a hidden basement and rooms," Draco whispered from behind Harry, his words warm against Harry's skin. "We should check for those."

Agreeing, Harry looked over at Hermione. "Cast a _Homenum Revelio_. Everyone, wands out. This will become nasty if we've missed anybody!"

Waiting for Hermione to cast the spell, Harry pointed his wand at the door in front of him. He waited, his heart in his mouth, as the seconds ticked by.

"Four people left," Hermione whispered from behind him. Her voice had a tremble to it, and Harry knew that she was frightened. "If I had to guess I'd say Robards, his wife, and two others who might be guarding them? I'm not sure."

"Okay. Let's go and search the rooms again. We must have missed something, and we have to hurry. The others won't be knocked out forever, and we don't want to be there when they wake up!"

"I have an idea, Potter." Draco stepped between him and Ron and started some complicated wand movements as he whispered, " _Appare Vestigium_." 

Suddenly the entire place was glowing, revealing multiple footprints and traces of magic. "They'll know we're coming now, but we can hurry and perhaps find a wall where the traces end suddenly. That way we'll find them." 

"Okay, let's hurry. Stay together!" Harry said, starting to lead everyone out of the room, guarded by Ron's shield.

Thanks to Draco, it took scarcely two minutes to locate a place where footprints were coming from or going to that didn't make sense with the rest of the footprints. It looked like a blank wall with a truly grotesque framed picture of Robards and his wife on it.

" _Revelio_ ," Blaise whispered from behind, and Harry snorted as the picture transformed itself into a door. This was a very pathetic attempt to hide a room indeed and wouldn't have fooled a decent NEWT student, let alone a powerful group of Aurors.

As soon as they had opened the door, curses started flying and diving in their direction. Thankfully, Ron's shield was strong enough to block them, as the others rapidly started firing hexes back at the casters who were hidden, deep in the dark.

An idea coming to him in a flash, Harry pointed his wand into the room and called " _Expecto Patronum,_ " knowing that his stag might be able to light up the room well enough to see who they were casting their spells at, and more critically, how they could hit them and hopefully distract them enough to keep Robards safe. 

It was a perfect success. After Harry's spell, Hermione and Blaise each took out one of the two people still rapidly firing curses at them, even going as far as trying to hit them with a _Crucio_. Thankfully the horrible curse missed them due to them still being invisible.

"Now they know it's you, you absolute tosser," Draco snarled, obviously annoyed. "Everyone knows the form of your Patronus!"

"So? What can they do? Put me on the wanted list a second time?" Harry snorted, flashing a quick look back at Draco. "It worked, they're out cold."

Stepping into the room, Harry saw four figures lying on the ground. He cast a _Lumos Maxima_ so he could finally see their faces.

Robards and his wife, one man he definitely knew from the Death Eater hearings but who had slithered away, and another one who looked like he was half-human, half-swamp-thing.

"Do you think we knocked Robards out?" Hermione asked nervously. Harry had to bite back a smile; she had never been all that comfortable not following the rules.

"I don't think we did, and if we did I'm sure he deserved it."

"I'm not even sure if they're still breathing," Blaise said, his voice loud in the darkness, and Harry allowed him to step forward and check the fallen wizard. "Yeah, he's breathing, but heavily drugged as far as I can tell. There's no chance we'll get him awake to answer questions."

"What about his wife?" Ron asked, his eyes burning a hole in Harry's own. Harry thought he sounded worried.

As soon as Blaise reached out to push her hair from her face, Mrs Robards let out a low groan and moved her head to the side.

"Could have some luck with that one. Take her with us or give her the potion here?" Blaise asked.

"Let's take her and leave," Hermione hissed, as she walked up to Blaise. "The others will wake up soon." Bending down, she pointed her wand at the two guards to Obliviate them before she turned to Mrs Robards. " _Obscuro_ "

A blindfold wrapped itself around Mrs Robards eyes, and Hermione gave Blaise a sharp nod, allowing him to levitate her out of the house. Plucking a few hairs from Mr Robards' head, Hermione got up and they started to move back through the house.

As they walked downstairs, they heard a crash come from the room they had stunned the first man, and they all hurried then, wanting to get out before the others regained consciousness too. 

Usually Harry and Ron would lead them back out the same way they had come in, but time was rapidly running out for them. They all sprinted out of the front door and towards the street where Dean, Neville and Ginny were waiting for them as their backup.

Grabbing Mrs Robards' arm, Harry Apparated them both to Grimmauld Place, knowing that every second would count, and that they were disappearing as quickly as grains of sand though a time now.

As soon as they had entered Grimmauld, Hermione took over and levitated the still-unconscious Mrs Robards into a small sitting room, binding her onto a chair while Draco removed the spells on them all.

" _Rennervate_ ," Ron mumbled as soon as Hermione had finished her work, and they all stood back and held their breath, waiting for Mrs Robards to wake up. 

She slowly started to move her head and let out small groans and whimpers, fighting hard against the rope. Turning her head left and right, Harry watched as her breathing sped up and the panic quickly gathered on her face. 

Sighing, Harry stepped forward and removed the blindfold from her eyes, hoping that that would calm her down.

Her eyes widened as she saw Harry, and the witch instantly stopped fighting against the ropes keeping her tied in place.

"Mrs Robards," Harry started, slowly, making sure she understood every word. "Do you know who I am?"

Mrs Robards gave him a short nod, before she breathed out a, "Yes."

"Good," Harry said quietly. "We'll give you some Veritaserum now, to make sure it's really you. And, once we've verified that it is indeed you, we have a few additional questions we'd like to ask you. Now, I'd appreciate it if you take it without protest, because you're not going to get around drinking it. And if you still manage to outsmart us, I hear Mr Malfoy here is an excellent Legilimens."

Retrieving the small vial out of his pocket, Harry held it up to Mrs Robards' lips and waited for her to drink it. After a short moment of hesitation, the witch opened her mouth and allowed Harry to pour the Veritaserum into her mouth. Her face was a mask of fury and disgust.

They all looked at her for a few minutes, just to give her a chance to make sure that potion had the chance to do its work. Then Hermione took over again. "What is your current, and your maiden, name?"

"Susannah Robards, nee Hartley," Mrs Robards answered without missing a beat.

"Do you know where we've brought you?"

"No."

"Do you know why we brought you here?" Hermione said, her voice determined and steely. 

Mrs Robards breathed out a, "Yes," as her entire body started to tremble. The Truth Serum was racing through her veins, compelling her to tell the truth.

"Is your husband responsible for the death of Kingsley Shacklebolt?"

"Partially," she spat out, her eyes darting around the room. She looked like a Horntail caught in a poacher's cage.

"Who else is involved in this?"

"I don't know all their names," Mrs Robards answered as tears started to stream down her face. "There are many people involved… and my husband never told me what was happening until it was too late! They invaded our home, they made Gawain plot against his friends which ended up in Kingsley's death." She sobbed, her voice breaking as she spoke. "And they will kill us too, once they don't need us anymore."

"What do they want?" Hermione asked, leaning in close to the older witch.

"Finish the job. Take over where You-Know-Who failed…" She looked around the room, her eyes wide and half-mad. "By this time tomorrow we'll all be dead."

Harry leaned closer to Ron and whispered, "They're in the Ministry. Whoever it is. They're in the Ministry! And they don't really need Robards for it anymore. That's bad. That's really bloody bad!"

Ron nodded his agreement. "We'll have to go there today. We don't have a choice. Hermione won't like that."

"Mrs Robards, what can we do to stop this?" Hermione asked, standing in front of them.

"Nothing. There's nothing we can do. He's too powerful." Tears dripped from her chin. Harry could see how truly terrified she had been over recent days and weeks.

"Who is too powerful?"

Crossing his fingers, Harry hoped that Mrs Robards knew who was behind it. They'd be truly damned if she didn't. 

"The Servant. Everyone thinks he's gone. But he's back again. And he's worse. He's... insane… Truly insane. We'll soon be dead. All of us, all of you, so, so soon." At this point Mrs Robards started sobbing so hard that she had trouble breathing. But stopping now was simply not an option: the group had to know. Just a bit more; a little bit more information, and then they could leave her to rest.

Stepping forwards, Harry crouched down in front of her to look at her face, waiting impatiently for her to look back at him.

"Who, Mrs Robards? Who is this Servant?" Harry pressed on, his voice cold and steady.

"The most loyal one. Crouch Junior. They didn't kiss him, they listened to him, he's— He did unspeakable things to us. Gawain fell for his promises, he paid for it, we all will."

Looking over his shoulder, Harry saw Ron and Hermione exchange a glance which told him everything that he needed to know. 

"We'll take care of this, Mrs Robards," Harry said before getting up. He pulled the others out of the room. 

"Do you think it's really him?" Hermione asked.

"She's sure it's him, and she can't lie to us right now. But I don't get why he's not rotting away in St Mungo's or in Azkaban. He shouldn't have survived the Dementor's Kiss in fourth year."

"You heard what she said," Ron said worriedly. "It doesn't sound like they ever Kissed him. We don't know if Fudge actually watched the Dementors after ordering them to Kiss him," he carried on. "I wouldn't be surprised if he didn't, and we all know Voldemort had them under his control later. He could've easily influenced some of them back then. We don't know when and how he acted."

"What do we do now?" Hermione asked quietly.

"Go to the Ministry. Now. Get everyone we know ready. If we find Crouch anywhere then it'll be there," Harry said matter of factly, already trying to formulate a plan of how they could get to Crouch Jr. without people stopping them. "It looks like he has quite a big follower base already. So we should be prepared for everything."

Draco casually walked up to them and pointed his wand at Mrs Robards. A bright white light emerged from the end. Then Draco turned to Harry. "I've put her to sleep, she'll be out for about six hours. Is that enough time for us to storm the Ministry?"

"For us?" Harry asked, surprised at Draco's suggestion. "I don't think it's a smart move—"

"Harry, listen, you'll need every single one of us beside you, and besides, even if you refused, I'd still come with you. I need to make sure you stay alive this time. You promised me," Draco snarled, not taking no for an answer. "So we're all coming with you. You don't have a choice. "

"He's right Harry. There's no reason for Draco not to come with us," Hermione said, looking very much as if she were trying to not laugh. 

"I'll tell everyone to get ready then," Draco answered, twisting his wand through his long, lithe fingers. Harry could see that he was entirely ready to stand by his side. "I can hide them, and one of us can Polyjuice into Robards, maybe another one into Mrs Robards. And then we'll see how far we'll get without using force," Draco said, glaring at Harry.

"Fine. But I'll take the Polyjuice!" Harry exclaimed, his face brooking no argument. He wasn't going to let Draco take that risk on his behalf. 

"Fine. I'll go as Mrs Robards then," Draco snapped back, his grey eyes tearing into Harry. "Don't you fucking dare try to keep me out of this."

At that Ron actually snorted, and Harry shot him a confused look, just as Draco rolled his eyes at him and left. 

"Sorry! You sound like an old married couple. It's so ridiculous to listen to the pair of you." Ron held his hands up in defence. "Two sides of the same Sickle, you two."

"Ronald!" Hermione cried out, pulling on Ron's upper arm with all the urgency she could muster. "This is a very serious matter and not the right time to have _this_ conversation!"

"What?" Ron laughed, his face alive with amusement. "I think the eve of a battle is just the right time to have this conversation, don't you think?"

Harry watched, even more confused, as Hermione turned a slight shade of pink. And suddenly he realised what they were talking about.

"Oh my god you're the worst! It's not like that!" Harry screeched, knowing his face was every bit as flushed as Hermione's was. "I'm just—"

"—worried, yeah sure. Let's go and get ready mate. But honestly, you have it so bad for him, and you should let him know once this is over. The pair of you. Honestly. You're unbearable."

Feeling his own face grow hot, Harry stomped off. Friends. That was all he and Draco were. They got along very well, found it easy to talk to one another and shared the same sense of humour. The single and the only reason that this had come up now was all the stress playing tricks on his mind. It was making him freak out, making him doubt his own mind. That's all. It would all be normal again once they took care of that bastard Crouch. 

Running into their room, Harry hurried to get his Invisibility Cloak. He wanted to have a backup plan in case the potion wore off, and they needed to get out of there quickly. An hour felt like forever. It felt like too long to wait, but he hadn't a choice. Harry really wanted to go now, but he understood that the others needed more time to prepare themselves. 

He had seen it before the Battle of Hogwarts, people spending just a bit more time with their loved ones before everything went to shit. And this, awful as it was, somehow felt similar. 

Not as scary anymore, of course: now Harry had a plan, and knew what to do, even if the worst came to the worst. He was chomping at the bit, wanting to leave. Harry was happy with their plan, even though it would be nearly all improvised. 

They at least had a goal, a target. A new enemy that they needed to vanquish. 

But, thinking about what everyone else could lose if anything went wrong knocked all the air from his lungs. Family, partners, kids, parents, close bonds much deeper than friendship. And Harry couldn't imagine how much more afraid everyone else was. It was all down to them. A ragtag bunch of witches and wizards against the entire Ministry. If anything went wrong, then their whole lives would change forever.

Draco chose to walk in then. He stopped Harry's pondering by lying down in bed next to him, his feet hanging from the corner of their bed so the tied boots wouldn't touch the sheets. 

"Tell me we'll be back here tonight," Draco said quietly, looking in Harry's direction. He was looking for reassurance and Harry was only too willing to give it. 

"We might even be back in our apartment tonight," Harry grinned, looking up at the swirls and whorls of ceiling plaster. "I'll make dinner and we'll watch telly together."

"I'd like that," Draco sighed. After a moment of silence he added: "I never thought we would go through this again. I thought one war was enough to last a lifetime."

"Yeah, I really hoped that one time would be enough," Harry answered, his mind drifting back to when he was seventeen. He'd been so naive. He had truly believed that evil was gone from the world.

"You know what's better this time?" Draco asked, and Harry could hear the smile in his voice.

Huffing, Harry looked over at him meeting Draco's amused eyes. "No. Tell me."

"We're not alone this time," Draco said, as he reached over and took Harry's hand in his own.

"Not alone," Harry echoed as he looked down at their linked fingers. He felt a lump build in his throat and tried to swallow it away. _Not alone._

Draco didn't move his hand away, and neither did Harry, as they stayed in bed together waiting for the hour to pass.

Harry asked himself if this is how all the others felt right now too. Every minute they stayed like this, their hands entwined, his heart grew tighter. He genuinely felt as if this could be the end. It wasn't fair that they had to fight again, wasn't fair they had to fix what others failed to see before it was too late. It made Harry feel like he was seventeen again, walking into the forest knowing that he wouldn't come back. 

But this time it had to end differently.

"So what's for dinner tonight?" Draco asked, breaking the silence that had drifted between them.

"Maybe it'll just be takeaway that we'll eat on the sofa with the cuddly blanket thrown over us." Harry smiled.

"Sounds perfect."

Harry could hear the fear in Draco's voice, and even though he tried his best to hide it he could feel Draco's grip on his hand tighten as the time ran past them. It was nearly time to go downstairs now. They only had a few minutes more. 

"Promise you we'll eat together tonight," Harry said quietly, knowing Draco could hear his fear too, and knew that it was okay to feel vulnerable. It would do Draco a disrespect to let him believe otherwise. 

"I'll be there."

Closing his eyes, Harry took a few deep breaths and tried to empty his mind, tried to centre and prepare himself for what would come next. 

Hermione would Transfigure his clothes so he'd match Robards, and Draco would fix his own robes to match Mrs Robards' clothes. They'd go into the Ministry, followed by their invisible army, and then they'd do their damnedest to try to stop Crouch. 

It sounded easy, said like that, but Harry knew that it wouldn't be easy. Not even close to easy, because when had they ever been lucky when it came to taking on the world? Harry's whole life had been a thousand to one shot.

"We have to go," Draco suddenly said.

"Let's go and break into the Ministry then," Harry sighed and he sat up, pulling Draco with him.

There was a tense silence in the kitchen when Draco and Harry walked in. It felt way too stuffed with people, even though the room was large. Anxious magic coiled and curled, and the tension was thick. He wasn't sure if all of those assembled would go with them, or whether some had only come by to wish everyone luck, but somehow thinking of all of them as a small army didn't feel all that wrong to him anymore. 

The entire Weasley family, each of them carrying some class of the Order of Merlin, were here. Neville and Luna were standing next to each other, wands already out and ready to leave. The Slytherins looked like they had been ready for years, just waiting to strike back. Hermione, Seamus, and Hannah—who greeted Harry with a big smile—asked him if he could maybe open the front door and lead their guests in. It seemed that Hermione, wonderful witch that she was, had been looking for some backup using the DA Coins.

Staring at her, Harry let go of Draco's hand and walked back to the front door to stick his head out. Hannah hadn't been able to tell them the number of the house, only the street, and Harry nearly broke down when he saw all those people waiting out there. 

Stepping through the wards, Harry smiled at them as they all came running towards him. Padma, Parvati, both Healers now. Dennis Creevy, working for _Witch Weekly_ in honour of his brother, and Cho, fresh from the last Quidditch game she had against Ginny. Even people he knew simply from nodding to them in passing in the Ministry Canteen were there. Harry shook his head in grateful wonder. 

There were half the staff of Hogwarts, including Hagrid, and as Harry looked behind him, he laughed out loud at who else he saw. Narcissa Malfoy, and a tall, very elegant lady who must be Blaise's mother standing back and looking at the crowd in front of them.

Telling them the address, so they could finally see the house and come in, Harry turned and marched back into the kitchen. They could never hide that many people. It simply wasn't possible. They had to march in and hope that the sheer mass of people was impressive enough to stop anyone from trying to stop them. 

"Change of plans guys. We have guests." Harry grinned as the room started filling up even more. There was barely breathing room, and yet still more entered. The nervous, excited energy ripped through the crowd. 

Tugging on Draco's sleeve, Harry nodded towards Narcissa and watched as Draco's eyes widened, and he let out an overjoyed squeal, jumping up to run into his mother's arms. Harry knew he hadn't seen her since she left England, and that she had now come back to support them meant a lot to Harry. The sight of Draco looking so happy made his heart swoop and dive, and he had to force himself to pull away his gaze. 

"We can't hide them all," Hermione suddenly realised, her intelligent eyes taking in the size of their army. "Is that the change of plans? Just go there and march up to them?"

Grinning at her, Harry nodded. The time for being sneaky was over. The time for hiding, and fighting in the shadows was finished. 

The wizarding world had fucked up many years before, letting innocent children fight in their war. Ron, Hermione, Draco and he? Each of them were now trained professionals, each with a set of skills that made them powerful, dangerous and a force to be reckoned with. They had the best witches and wizards the UK had to offer by their side too; each and every one of them were ready to kick some Ministry arse.

Mrs Zabini stepped onto the kitchen table, under the protest of Mrs Weasley, and looked around the mass of people. She paused for a single moment before she pulled out her wand and closed her eyes. 

Furrowing his brows Harry looked up at her, waiting to see what she would do next. Then he caught Blaise smirking at him and giving him a short thumbs up. 

Suddenly the air was filled with translucent golden fog that whirled around them and made everything glimmer and shine for several seconds, before it was gone once more. 

Mrs Zabini opened her eyes, and looked down at all of them. "This is for luck," she said, her voice sounding rich and smoky. "It'll keep you safe, curses will miss you, and people will not feel the need to attack you if they hadn't planned to do so before."

"Sounds like _Felix Felicis_ ," Harry snorted, remembering how spells had missed him when he had taken it, remembering how the liquid luck made him feel nearly invincible.

"Indeed, Mr Potter. It's a spell, not from this land, not from this time, it has no name and not many people know it. But it has similar effects," Mrs Zabini said with a wide, confident smile. "It's not as potent, but it will last longer. This is what I can give you in addition to me being by your side."

"Thank you," Harry said, feeling strangely touched by the gesture. He was also very confused. He had never seen Blaise's mother before, and seeing her now only created more questions in his brain than it answered.

"Don't look at her for too long, Potter," Draco laughed as he joined his side again. "She'll have you under her spell within a minute if you keep staring. Shall we go? Floo, I guess?"

Smiling at him, Harry nodded and held out his hand again, waiting for Draco to take it. "Not alone this time."

Smiling back at him, Draco linked their fingers. "Not this time."


	8. Chapter 8

Harry and Draco were the first ones to step out the Floo at the Ministry, and people instantly stopped to gawk at them. But nobody raised their wands, nobody whispered their names nor made any move towards them. 

They simply stared.

Walking into the middle of the room, Harry and Draco watched as person after person walked out of the Floo and joined them until they were a mass of people blocking the entire entrance room.

"That's the last one through!" McGonagall shouted from the back of the crowd.

Looking over at Draco, Harry sent a big grin in his direction. Together they began to lead everyone towards the lifts, accompanied by Ron and Hermione to their left, and Pansy and Blaise to their right.

They didn't get far, but Harry had expected that much. No matter how many spells Harry's Army might use, it seemed the Ministry had been taken over by the wrong kind of people after all. They wouldn't just let them pass through.

About ten witches and wizards blocked their path, pointing their wands at them without saying a word. Their faces were flat and filled with bigoted hatred.

"I want to see Mr Robards," Harry shouted into the deadly silence. "Or the person pretending to be Robards, because I know for sure that the real Robards is currently half dead in a hidden room in his own house."

At that murmurs picked up, and Harry saw that the people gathered around them had begun to gather their heads together, whispering urgently as they watched the scene unfold. 

"The Ministry has been taken over," Draco called. "Someone wants to finish what the Dark Lord couldn't do. And we're here to stop them. Fight with us, or leave and get out of danger. You all saw what happened lately! You all whispered, heard rumours. They are true. And we're not allowing this to happen again."

The agitated chatter picked up, and suddenly the first curse flew through the room, hitting one of the wizards blocking their way right in the face. 

And that was when all hell broke loose. 

People were shouting; curses and hexes were fired, and people came from everywhere to join with them on their march to the lifts. The guards had been knocked out, but then there were more coming from every side, streaming in and trying to stop them. But there were just too many people on their side. Harry's army was a force, a battalion, determined to make a last stand between good and the forces of evil. 

Harry watched in awe as Narcissa Malfoy swung her wand around like a battle sword, defending all of them while shooting curses he hadn't even heard of, and hoped never to know the effects of, at everyone stepping into their way. 

Molly Weasley had joined with Mrs Malfoy and Mrs Zabini, and together they were something Harry could only describe as a deadly force, firing flashing, fizzing spells that lit up the room while they fought their way to the lifts.

They were empty as they arrived, but Harry decided to not trust them. He nodded to Draco in the direction of the stairs. They could take them all the way to the Minister's office. They couldn't afford to get trapped in the lifts, not when they had come this far.

The staircase was another tricky issue to deal with. Some evil cretin had tried to secure it by dropping what looked like a hundred Devil's Snares on the stairs. But Neville and Hermione made short work of them by shooting salvo after salvo of _Lumos Solem_ at every plant, burning them a passage so that their army could march up the staircase.

Harry felt his pulse drum in his ears as they took step after step towards the Minister's floor. 

This time would be different. It had to be different. They weren't children anymore, pulled into another's war. They had grown up, and still fought against the same evil. They had become better, become stronger: they were an unstoppable force, and Harry felt nearly drunk from that knowledge.

The First Floor was empty as they reached it, but Blaise stopped them all, waving his wand at the empty space in front of them. The brilliant wizard cast a multitude of revealing spells and together with his mother, Bill and the Headmistress, started dismantling all the hidden traps and curses that had been left to trap them. 

Meanwhile, Harry and Draco started undoing all the wards knotted and entwined around the place. They took down every trace of lingering magic that had been left to capture and contain them, moving forward step by small step.

Looking over, Harry made sure that Draco was still with him, and therefore missed the moment when the first tile at his feet began to crumble. 

An earth shattering crack sounded through the hallway, and Harry looked at the floor in front of him, seeing it open up and crumble into black nothingness. 

"Nice try! Why don't you show your face instead of letting us walk into traps!" Draco shouted, his voice loud and ragged, full of an anger that had lain unrevealed for years. "The Dark Lord would be ashamed of your pathetic efforts to stop us! He at least had the balls to show his true face once he was confronted!"

"Young Mr Malfoy," an amused and cold voice filled the air around them. "You are barely in a position to call anyone a coward. The Dark Lord would be proud of how far I have already come! Very proud! All this took me not even a month. The Ministry is mine."

"Just because you sit in the Minister's office, Crouch, doesn't make you the Minister," Harry barked. "Show your face and fight for it, you coward, if you really want it!"

"Ahh, Harry Potter, the _Hero_ himself. Let's see how far you get this time, shall we?"

At that all the lights went out, and Harry felt a sudden coldness spread through his entire body, taking over his mind and soul before he could act in any way. All the happiness and warmth seemed to flee from the world.

"Dementors," Draco whispered next to him, as he stepped closer and placed his shaking hand on Harry's arm. "I can't help with those."

Snapping out of the feeling of being lost, Harry shook his head. Draco's hand on his arm was all it took to vanish the feeling of overwhelming sadness from his mind. " _Expecto Patronum!_ "

Harry's stag took off, and from behind him he heard at least a dozen other people shouting the same thing. Suddenly the entire hallway was filled with the glowing lights of the Patronuses taking off towards the Dementors slowly gliding towards them. 

Watching satisfied as the Dementors shot away, chased by all kinds of glowing animals, Harry pointed his wand at the ground. He fixed the damaged floor in front of them and took a small step forward, heart racing as he anticipated what might happen next.

"You didn't think it'd be that easy, did you Potter?" the cold voice said. "I have the entire Ministry at my hands. I have a few surprises left for you."

"Bring them on. I'm not in a rush," Harry barked back, gripping his wand tighter. His fingers were white-knuckled and his eyes darted everywhere. 

Suddenly black smoke filled the air around them, and Harry heard a scream that ran through his entire body. Before he understood what was happening, white hands were gripping at them, trying to pull them into the shadows, and Harry realised he had seen those types of hands before. "Seamus! I need you here! We need fire! A lot of it!"

"Fire?" Draco panted, standing beside him as he sent different hexes into the darkness, magic of all colours exploding around them like fireworks. 

"Inferi," Harry yelled as he pointed his wand in front of him. " _Incendio!_ I've seen them before. Only once, but you never forget a sight like that." 

A scream from somewhere behind him made Harry snap around, and he saw someone disappear into the darkness just seconds before a massive explosion made the entire floor shake and shudder.

" _Protego Maxima!_ " screamed both Harry and Ron as a wall of fire rolled towards both of them. The spell took rather too well, and the flames danced and roared. Harry could only hope that their shields would hold up against the raging flames. 

The fiery heat was intense, and started to feel dangerous and, as the fire burnt on, Harry heard people all around him repeat the protection charm.

"We shou' move," Hagrid bellowed from the back. "'e can't see us through the fire! Make som' ground!" 

Looking grim, Harry started to move forward. Taking small steps allowed everyone to gather up close before he took the next one. 

The floor underneath their feet was nearly hot enough to melt their shoes, but Harry pressed on, making as much ground as possible. This was their moment, their one shot. Harry couldn't afford to lose even an inch. 

"Fucking hell Finnigan! What did you do?" Blaise screamed as sparks flew up and singed his trousers.

"Fire, like you asked for! It'll stop in a minute, no worries!" Seamus called back.

Harry took another step and his foot hit something solid. Looking down he saw the remnants of a burnt Inferius on the floor and he scrunched his nose in disgust, wondering from what part of Hell Crouch had summoned those monstrosities from. 

Only then did Harry realise something almost unspeakable in its likeness. Harry was sure they just had found the missing people. Hoping that Mrs Millen was still safe in her cell, Harry walked on, feeling sick as more and more Inferi could be seen on the floor.

"There must have been hundreds of them," Draco whispered from beside him.

"Yes. I wonder what else he has for us. There isn't much distance left from here to the office."

"Maybe Finnigan got him too."

Snorting, Harry watched as the wall of fire slowly dissolved and revealed the destruction that Seamus' spell had wrought on the Ministry. Whatever had been in the open rooms and hallways was now destroyed beyond repair. The doors and walls were burned and covered in soot, and there was destruction wherever he looked. This would take forever to fix, if it was even fixable at all. Harry bit his lip. He was close to Crouch now. 

"Impressive," Crouch's voice echoed through the smoky air. "There are many amongst your ranks that could have been of great use to me. But sadly, fire won't help you with my final surprise, Potter. They can fight for themselves, let's see how hard you'll go after your colleagues, shall we?"

Suddenly all around them doors opened and Aurors and Hit Wizards flooded out into the charred hallway, surrounding them with pointed wands and empty, flat faces. 

"Fuck," Ron breathed out. "Dad? Is there a way to end the Imperius Curse on someone?"

"Not as far as I know," Arthur called back. "It wears off or ends once the caster dies."

Looking around, Harry tried to find a spark of recognition on his old colleagues' faces, but they all stared right through him. Not knowing what to do next, Harry could only hope for a miracle. Draco and Mrs Malfoy obviously had other plans though. Stepping to the front they both pointed their wands at the Aurors, and their whispered words made Harry's entire body tremble in shock.

" _Imperius_."

Harry watched half-disgusted and half-impressed at how easily the Unforgivable Curse came to them. The Aurors who were hit by the Malfoys' curse dropped their wands and left as the two of them moved on to the next ones. 

Harry realised that this was the point Crouch Jr. caught on to what they were doing, and so did everyone else. 

Curses started to fly, missing all of them by about an inch. Most of Harry's army used some basic defense spells, leaving the Unforgivables to whomever had it in them to cast them, overtaking Crouch's marionettes with ease and sending them away one after the other. 

By the time Harry had cleared a path to the Minister's office he had sweated through his shirt, and his hair was wild and messy, stuck to his forehead. His whole body vibrated with weariness, and he felt like his magic was depleting. Harry was tired of this, and he realised that this was exactly what Crouch had wanted. Make them tired, and drain them down before he himself would face them. 

Walking towards the office, Harry cast a strong shield around himself and left the others to deal with the final few straggling Aurors.

Curses started flying towards him, but Harry dodged them, too tired to fire back. He needed to save his energy for the bastard waiting for him in Kingsley's office.

When he pushed open the door, Harry ducked down straightway so the curse Crouch fired at him would fly over his head. Sighing, annoyed, Harry stared at him. 

Crouch hadn't changed much over the last years. He looked a bit older, and even more insane than he had before. The wizard was one of the most dangerous, fearsome and radicalised men that Harry had ever encountered. But he was obviously still not good at timing his Polyjuice intake. Perhaps, anyway. Maybe he was just too stupid to care that anyone could see who he truly was. 

Probably a mix of both, Harry decided.

"Can we just bring this to an end?" Harry asked, pulling himself together. "Or will you hold lectures just like Voldemort did? And if you do, please explain to me how you're still around."

"You're an arrogant child, Potter. But this will find an end now," was the only reply Crouch had to that.

"Good. I have a dinner date tonight, and I really don't want to miss that," Harry snorted, before he sent the first spell towards Crouch who answered him promptly.

Harry tried to hit him with every non-lethal spell he could think of, not willing to kill him. That could wait until the Wizengamot got their hands on him once again. They needed his memories, needed to prove Robards was guilty too, and prove his whole sordid plan. Harry needed to expose everything Crouch had done including the horde of Inferi he had created. Like Voldemort before him, Crouch was nothing more than a murderer. 

One of Crouch's curses hit Harry square in the face and he could hear the bastard laugh as he felt blood drop down his cheek and temple. Only then did the pain start to kick in, and Harry let out a scream as the frenzied attack came even more forcefully than before, making Crouch struggle to keep up. Landing a few hits, Harry grinned dirty as he saw Crouch flinch with pain.

But the tides turned once more. A few swipes of Crouch's wand managed to make Harry stumble and fall over.

His heart beating in his throat, Harry held onto his wand as Crouch tried to disarm him. He couldn't allow this to happen, he couldn't just lie there without putting up a defence.

Feeling a Knockback Jinx hit him, Harry flew back through the room and dropped agonisingly to the ground, where he found himself immobilised before he could do as much as aim his wand. 

"Pathetic, Potter. This will end now. Your friends are struggling to keep my Aurors at bay and there's no one coming to help you," Crouch panted, his smirking face a parody of humanity. Harry could hear that the wizard was out of breath himself. That was at least a small victory. 

Watching Crouch point his wand at him with a dirty grin on his face, Harry closed his eyes. 

" _Avada—_ "

" _Crucio!_ " 

Harry watched as Crouch sank to his knees and let out an earth-shattering scream. 

Seconds later a pair of boots came into Harry's view, and he recognised them instantly. 

Pain shot through his body as Draco didn't stop there but shot curse after curse at Crouch until the Dark Wizard was nothing but a quivering mess on the floor. It was only then that Draco stunned him before he turned and looked at Harry with a look of pure fury on his face.

"You fucking idiot. So much for promising not to fucking die again!" Draco screamed as he walked towards him. "You could have waited! Or pulled me along! You know I would have come with you! And now you're here and your entire face is cut open and you're barely alive anymore! _Finite!_ "

Harry felt his muscles relax as he finally was able to move again. Rolling onto his back, he let out a pained, broken groan. His entire body hurt, and he didn't even want to think about how he'd feel tomorrow. A tomorrow he'd now have thanks to Draco. 

Looking up, Harry found Draco staring down at him, still furious, but his eyes suspiciously wet.

Smiling up at him, Harry held out his hand, hoping that Draco might help him up. "I knew you'd come. I promised you we'd have dinner together. You never let a dinner invite slip."

"You're an arsehole, Potter. I don't know what else to say to you at this point."

"I'm sorry, Draco. I promise you, this is the last time," Harry said quietly, letting his arm flop back down to the floor since Draco had made no move to help him up. "I can't do this anymore."

"No you obviously can't!" Draco screamed, the near-hysteria of his voice testimony to how frightened he had been. "And I can't do this anymore either! I can't sit around and hope you'll survive the next day, and the day after, over and over again, just because you have to play the hero! That's just—"

"I love you," Harry blurted out, knowing that it was true, knowing that he had loved him for a while now but had been too blind to see it. "I just want to go home with you. And maybe get my face fixed first. Please, Draco. I'm really sorry. Let's just—"

"Of course you do, you fucking moron! Glad it only took you nearly dying and me screaming at you to realise!"

Harry stared up at Draco in shock, and the following silence was long. Until Harry and Draco both started laughing. 

Letting his head rest back on the floor, Harry felt as all the stress and tension were draining his body, as tears streamed down his bleeding, broken face. 

"You stupid—" Draco pressed out between laughs. "Wait here, I'll get someone who can fix your face."

Turning around, Draco cast a quick _Incarcerous_ at Crouch, making sure he wouldn't be able to move even if he woke up again. Then Draco left the room and returned a minute later with Pansy beside him. 

Pansy bent down to inspect Harry's face and let out a sigh. "Never thought it'd be possible to make you even uglier. I have no idea what Draco sees in you," she smirked.

"But you can fix it, right?" Harry huffed. He actually didn't really care what he looked like but he did care about the pain. He was getting rather too close to passing out for his liking, and it would be nice if it'd stop hurting soon.

"Probably," Pansy answered. I'll go and get the dittany, just try not to move."

Harry closed his eyes as he waited for Pansy to return, letting everything that happened play over in his mind. Crouch was obviously entirely mad. First of all getting all those Inferi into the Ministry, and the Dementors too— "We need to check the rooms." Harry groaned. "There's no way he could hide all those things here without anyone discovering it. There needs to be some other path." 

"Weasley had the exact same idea five minutes ago. They're already checking the rooms," Draco snorted. Harry might have smiled too, had his face not been in quite so much agony.

"Oh."

Pansy came back shortly afterwards. Opening the small bottle of essence of dittany Hermione always carried around with a sharp twist, Pansy kneeled down next to him. "This will hurt, but I need you to stay still while I pour this on your face since there's not much left."

"I'll try."

Biting his teeth together, Harry tried to keep his head as still as possible while Pansy did her work. He hated the feeling of skin knitting itself together. Mixed with the burn of dittany on his open wounds it was nearly enough to make him want to scratch off his face. But he only clenched his hands into fists and kept still until Pansy told him he could finally move again.

Thanking her, Harry looked over at Draco who still looked cross with him. "I'm sorry."

"You should be," Draco growled.

"I won't do anything like that again."

"You won't have the chance to do anything like that again."

Fighting to get on his feet, Harry walked over to Draco and threw his arms around him, hugging him close. He wouldn't let go until Draco relaxed a bit. 

They were alive. 

They were alive, and they'd have dinner tonight, and things would be fine. They had the rest of their lives and Harry didn't think he'd ever been so grateful just to exist. 

"You two are the biggest idiots I've ever seen," Pansy sighed, her face entirely exasperated. "The others decided to go home. Ron and Hermione organised some ex-Aurors to take care of this mess, and they'll be here in a minute. Also McGonagall went to get Mrs Robards so that's over and done with too. You two go home whenever you feel like it. Or just stay, I honestly don't care anymore."

At that Harry heard her turn around and leave, and seconds later Draco scoffed. "She's just as annoying as you are. What did I do to deserve the pair of you?"

"I don't know. But I won't complain about it." Harry grinned as Draco finally closed his arms around him too.

"Let's go and check where those senior Aurors are so they can arrest this piece of shit and we can go home. Home. Not Grimmauld. We can stop by there, but we won't stay."

"Fine. But first we have to visit the holding cells. There's a person I need to set free if she's still there," Harry said, hoping badly that Mrs Millen would still be sitting there waiting.

"I'm fine with that. Let's go then."

Letting go of him, Draco reached for Harry's hand and pulled him out of the room, looking for someone else to take over from here.

* * *

* * *

Harry looked around their empty apartment for one last time. 

Packing things with magic was a lot easier than doing everything by hand, but he still didn't trust it to get everything. Their belongings had been shrunk down and filled only a couple of boxes now. Harry hadn't realised how little his life had consisted of. 

They had moved all their belongings to Grimmauld Place over the last week, while simultaneously fixing the entire Ministry hierarchy and quitting their jobs. Harry—and Draco too—hoped desperately that this would finally mean the end for fighting for their lives. Another hundred or so years of quiet life sounded wonderful to both wizards. 

Ron had declined the offer to become the next Head Auror, and he had quit the very next day too, deciding he'd rather work with George and invent new Wheezes products to keep Harry on his toes in the future. 

The Ministry was more or less led by retired Aurors now, and Harry was sure they couldn't do a worse job than any of the others who had come before them.

Life went on. The newspapers were a constant hassle, with their angry, blaming headlines and their controversial opinions. It was about time for Harry and Draco to get away from everything and start their new careers at Hogwarts, learning under the current Professors how to educate the future of wizarding society. Harry could only pray that they would make less of a mess of it. 

There was only one thing to do before they left.

Apparating to Mrs Millen's house, Harry knocked on the door and waited for her to open, greeting her with a big grin. 

They had promised to come over and say goodbye before they left, and Draco couldn't be stopped from giving her a small gift as thank you for helping them along.

Handing her the most atrocious and revolting plant Harry had ever seen, Draco told her with a wink to not let the Ministry find it in her possession.

And then they left.

The two of them Apparated straight to Hogsmeade and then took the well known path to Hogwarts.

In two days the students would arrive. In three days they'd be in the newspapers once again. 

But tomorrow, tomorrow they'd beat the Headmistress in Quidditch. And tonight they'd move into their shared quarters.

Taking Draco's hand, Harry blew him a small kiss as they watched Hogwarts grow with every step they took.

Their home.

When they reached the gate, Harry's heart was beating wildly in his chest as he looked at Draco by his side and their old new home in front of them. 

This was the life he wanted. The life he deserved. The life that a small boy locked in a cupboard beneath the stairs could never have dreamt of. 

"Professor Potter, Professor Malfoy! Pebble is so happy to be the one welcoming you back, sirs!"

**Author's Note:**

> The tagged Minor Character Death is Kingsley Shacklebolt. His death is the only one happening more or less on screen. There are others but those are only mentioned and unknown.
> 
> ===
> 
> This fic is part of HD Erised 2020; thank you so much for reading! You can show your appreciation for the author in a comment below. ♥


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